


Famous Five Divided

by Summerseve



Category: Famous Five - Enid Blyton
Genre: Adventure, Angst, F/M, Revenge, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-04
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2017-12-04 08:04:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 34,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/708430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Summerseve/pseuds/Summerseve
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three years have passed since the Famous Five had their adventures. Julian works for the MoD, Dick is a reporter, Anne has recently divorced, and George doesn't want to be a boy anymore, she is now Gina and co-owns a gentlemens' club where she occasionally performs. Dick and Julian have fallen out over Dick sleeping with Julian's girlfriend and Gina hates Julian with  good reason. A/N May 2015 - Still have not forgotten. I just need a bit of spare time to get the rest written and posted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An Unwelcome Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Enid Blyton employed a floating timeline in the Famous Five books, meaning that like the Simpsons, time passes but characters do not age at the same rate. On Enid Blyton dot net, someone has produced a list of the four children's ages in each book. Blyton tells us that they were 10, 11 and 12 in book one, and that in Five Fall Into Adventure, Julian is 16. Where possible I will use these ages when referring to them and their adventures during the Blyton years. However, I will on occasion allow my timeline to float a little too. I will not draw upon any adventures or incidents in the Famous Five books by other authors.
> 
> And finally, the usual disclaimers apply. I am not Enid Blyton not least because she died in 1968. I don't make any money from this. I am just a massive fan for whom the Famous Five was a huge influence during my childhood, and I enjoy seeing them grow up.

Chapter 1- An Unwelcome Reunion   


‘You were fantastic darling!’ said Terry. ‘I really should talk you into performing every night.’

Gina laughed and gave him a hug. ‘I don't think I'd be up to performing every night. I'm exhausted, I'm not in as good shape as I was.’

‘You look pretty good from where I’m standing?’   

‘Stop that!’ she said, giving him a playful swipe.

‘What? Just because a painting isn’t to my taste, doesn't mean that I can't appreciate its beauty.’

‘You do say the sweetest things… I think’ she said, giving him another squeeze. Drawing back from the embrace, Gina noticed her personal assistant, showing a man into her office. He looked over and as their eyes met, she had to clutch Terry’s arm to steady herself  ‘Oh god, no!’

‘Darling, what's the matter? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’

‘My cousin's here.’           

Terry turned in time to see only a leg vanishing through the doorway,  he smoothed a hand over already impeccable hair. ‘Excellent! I haven't seen Dick in ages.’

‘It's not Dick. It's one of my other cousins, Dick's brother actually, but we don't get on. I suppose I'd better go and see what he wants.’

‘Do you want me to come with you?’

‘No, it's fine, I'll see you later.’

55555

 

Gina took a deep breath before entering her office,  I’m not a child anymore, Julian has no authority over me, she though. She decided against changing her clothes, dealing with Julian whilst still dressed in a costume of glittering sequins and skimpy lace would, she thought put him on edge.

‘Julian,’ she said, gliding into her office in heels that made her almost as tall as him,’ I'd say what a pleasant surprise, but then we'd both know that I'm lying, wouldn't we?’ She walked straight past him, sat down in her office chair, and met his thunderous glare with one of equal ferocity. Sitting whilst he stood would usually put her at a disadvantage, but as she crossed one toned leg over the other, she knew that she was presenting Julian with a revealing view. Nothing would make him more uncomfortable than trying to keep his eyes from straying.

‘What was that? When your mother said you owned a club I had no idea that it was anything like this, does she? No,’ he said, almost to himself, ‘she mustn't know or she would have at least warned me. She wouldn’t have wanted me to see you parading yourself like a common showgirl dressed like: that!

‘How could you? I mean – you! George?’ You hated being a girl all the time we were growing up and here you are. And let me tell you my girl, nobody in this club tonight had any doubts that you are a woman!’

‘You actually saw me perform?’ Oh, this just gets better, she thought as Julian’s cool facade slipped, giving a rare glimpse of passion beneath that stiff upper lip. Gina laughed, the sound held little humour, but it gave her the discrete opportunity to take a couple of deep lungful’s of air. Either the costume must be tighter than she had realised or her office was stuffy tonight. 

‘You find this funny?’ he asked.

‘As a matter of fact I do,’ she said, swinging from side to side in her chair. ‘And to answer your question, no Mother doesn't know what kind of club this is. She assumes it's a gentlemen's club, which to a certain extent it is. Don't roll your eyes at me like that Julian. Surely you're a man of the world?’ Gina bit her lip, berating herself for failing to keep the trace of a question from the statement.

            Allowing herself to look at Julian objectively, Gina had to admit that the years had been generous to him. Julian the boy, with his public school upper-class upbringing and a maturity beyond his years, had often seemed arrogant. Adulthood had transmuted this into the reassuring confidence required of the English ruling class. He could be the poster boy for the British Empire; with his blond hair, determined  jaw, and a slight hint of stubble which only emphasised an otherwise flawless complexion. Only his eyes imbued with the silken warmth of melted chocolate prevented Julian from looking like he had been sculpted from ice. I doubt that he’d been hiding himself away since he broke off his engagement with Annabella, Gina mused before continuing.

‘Surely you frequent clubs like mine from time to time?’

‘No, as it happens I don't waste my time in places like this. I think you may be confusing me with Dick!’

‘Don't you dare say a word against Dick. As if I could ever confuse the two of you. He was there for me, he treated me with respect, he didn't lie to me, he didn't...’ Gina bit her lip. Even after all this time it choked her to think about it let alone to say his name. Not so long ago she had always tried to look and act like a boy, which included keeping tears at bay, and some habits were hard to break. Besides, she wouldn't give Julian the satisfaction of seeing her cry. ‘And it's Gina now, not George,’ she said, with a calmness that she didn’t feel.

 

55555

 

Julian knew what Gina had been about to say, and what she was thinking. He would not have believed it possible that Gina’s continuing hatred could cause him physical pain, but it did. He took a couple of steadying breaths, but her perfume infused the air and he felt like his lungs were filling with her, with Gina. Gina? He tried the name out in his mind and found that he liked it.

‘I'm sorry; I didn't mean to be so angry, just it was a bit of a shock. When I saw you dancing up there, I just couldn't believe my eyes. You look so different now. You always hated being a girl but  if your performance was anything to go by…’ He felt himself flush by his admission of having watched her dance, ‘well, you aren’t boyish anymore.’

 

55555

 

If Julian had taken her regained calmness as some kind of conciliation on her part, he was mistaken.

‘Why are you here?’ she demanded.

‘Your mother asked me to come, she's been trying to contact you for two days.’

Damn, she thought. She hadn't given her new address and telephone number to her mother yet. If she had, she could have spoken to her mother and avoided this unwelcome visit.

Until two weeks ago, Gina had lived here, in the flat above the club. She and Terry had been so busy establishing the club that she had never got around to finding herself somewhere permanent until recently. She didn't want to say any of this to Julian though; she didn't want to have to tell him where she really lived.

‘I've had problems with the line,’ she said, not meeting his eyes. Even now, despite everything, it felt wrong lying to him. ‘Is Mother ok?’ she asked.

‘As a matter of fact she isn't. She isn't ill’ he said, seeing the panic on her face. ‘It's your father, he's gone missing.’

Gina set her expression to one of indifference. ‘He's probably just wandered off with his test tubes and forgotten the time.’ she said.

‘So did your mother… two weeks ago… Now she's worried and so am I. There have been things, signs, just little things really that there may be some foul play. She needs you to go home, she wants us all there, Anne and Dick too. She’s hoping that we may be able to work out what's happened.’

Gina laughed ‘Don't you think we are a little old for adventures, Julian? Let the police handle it. If he's really gone, well, Mother will be better off without him. He’s almost as bad a husband as he is a father.’

Julian's anger at her disrespect was such that it rendered him speechless for a few seconds. ‘Your father is a great man; he has done amazing service for our country.’

‘Yes well 'the country' never had to live with him did it?’ Gina retorted. ‘Don't be so surprised Julian, he was involved, I hate him just as much as I hate you!’

 

55555

 

Her words flew through the air and landed on Julian like a slap. He had hoped that in the three years since he had last seen her that she would have loosened up a little. Who was he kidding? Gina had always been stubborn, she would never let it go. He should have known that.

‘Your mother wants you home, tomorrow. Pack some things; I’ll be here in the morning at nine o'clock sharp!’

‘Don't you dare order me around!’ Gina jumped up out of her chair and squared up to him. ‘You have no idea what commitments I may have. You just think I'm going to swan off with you when you turn up at my club out of the blue.’

‘Listen, if you think I am relishing the idea of spending three hours in a car with you then you are mistaken. Aunt Fanny has been a second mother to me since I was eleven years old, and _she_ wants us there. Regardless of your feelings for me or your father you owe it to your mother to be there for her.’

Gina broke eye contact, ashamed that Julian had thought that she was refusing to go to her mother’s aid  ‘Of course I'll be there for Mother, but I'll go home because I want to, not because you’re telling me to go,’ 

‘Why must you make everything so confrontational? I've come here to this… place…because your mother needs us. Why can’t you just accept my help and guidance for once, for her sake?’

‘Your help and guidance? Why of course, you can help me decide what to pack, perhaps a few dresses like this one?’ She pirouetted, giving Julian a 360-degree view, before moving closer to him; so close that, despite her heels, she had to raise her head to make eye contact with him.  ‘As for guidance, well, you never said whether you enjoyed my performance earlier.’

‘You were very agile,’ he offered. ‘Enough! It's late. Be ready for nine. Don't keep me waiting.’ With that, he turned and thundered out of her office.

 

 

55555

 

‘Yes I suppose it is a bit late for you Julian, run home to your Ovaltineand slippers,’ Gina countered half to herself. By the slight pause in his step though, she knew that he had heard.


	2. When Julian Grew Up

Chapter 2 – When Julian Grew Up

Julian thundered through his front door and over to his drinks cabinet. He filled a glass almost to the rim before guzzling it in a manner ill befitting a forty year old single malt. Sinking down  into the sofa, he buried his head in his hands. How could he have let that happen? How could he have let his control slip? Seeing her there like that, seeing her dance; Twirling and teasing in a costume that hid all but suggested everything. He had been angry when he had confronted her, but not just angry. He'd felt protective towards her, he'd wanted to cover her from the eyes of the other men in the room who had looked on and desired her. Just like _he_ had looked and desired her.

‘No, no, no!’ he said out loud, beating his fist into the arm of the sofa. ‘I can't feel this way about her. Not now! I'm not a teenager anymore!’ Leaning back, Julian closed his eyes, and allowed himself to remember.

55555

 

It was summer. The five of them were caravanning at Lake Merran, (1) and had found the perfect spot for swimming and bathing. Whilst the two girls, and he and Dick did change a short distance apart, privacy, at least amongst themselves, had never been a concern. He and Dick were in their trunks and at the water’s edge when Julian glanced over at the girls to see if they were ready too. Anne was, and was just tying a band into her hair, but George, who had to contend with Timmy jumping about in excitement, was a little slower. Julian watched as George slid her costume up her legs and over her buttocks. He noticed how different she looked now. As he saw her, almost naked, without the benefit of loose clothing to cover her figure, he realised that he didn't consider her boyish at all. Between her legs was a thatch of dark curly hair, her waist tapered slightly to give her an hourglass appearance that Julian had noticed women have. His eyes followed George's hands as they worked the costume, which was last summers and a little tight, up over her hips. Julian noticed that George had breasts, small and pert. He wondered how they would feel in his hands, how the nipple would feel against his tongue. Heat rushed to his face and to his loins. His penis hardened and began to throb, as if trying to burst free from trunks that now felt too small to contain him. Julian turned and dove into the cold water, hoping that none of the others had noticed.

They swam and splashed as normal, but Julian took care to avoid contact with George whenever possible. This was not easy as George was an excellent swimmer and it was the norm that the two of them would try and get one over on the other. He did his best to act normally for the rest of that day.

‘She's just my kid cousin’ he kept telling himself ‘She wishes she was a boy. She’d be horrified if she’d known what I was thinking.’ Another voice, which he struggled to mute told him: ‘So what if she's my cousin, cousins marry all the time. She might say she wants to be a boy but no matter what she says, the fact is: she is a girl.’

 

55555

 

His body's physical reaction to seeing George naked had shocked Julian, especially the visible nature of it. He didn't think that the others had noticed. He had been nervous that Dick might have, but he hadn't said anything. He and Dick did not associate with the boys at school who, huddled in dark corners and talked of such things, but they had studied reproduction in biology, so they understood the mechanics of sex. They’d never discussed it since decent boys as Julian considered himself and Dick to be, did not talk about such things.

Julian lay in his sleeping bag that night and waited until the silence told him that he was the only one still awake. He reached down and slid his hand into his pants and took a firm hold of his penis. Until now, Julian had and only ever touched himself when it was necessary. It felt pleasant, but nothing like it had done earlier. Julian sighed in relief: it had just been an anomaly, a trick of the heat and the sun dancing on the water that had given him a funny turn, nothing to do with George at all. The moment he thought her name, his penis seemed to jerk and it started to stiffen. He adjusted his hand to get a better grip on his treacherous organ, only to feel it lengthen. He could no longer fit it in his hand. Unable to control his thoughts now, he closed his eyes and pictured _her_ naked again. In his mind, she stood still while his hungry gaze took in the sight of her. He moved towards her and took hold of her small breasts in his hands. He could almost feel their softness against the palms of his hands, and as he caressed the imaginary breast, he was conscious of his hand pulling back and forth along his length. It was all he could do not to gasp out loud at the pleasure of it, and as his hand worked,  his imagination replaced his hand with George's, whilst his tongue lapped at her nipple. The imaginary George moaned, and the sound of Timmy stirring told him that _he_ had made the noise himself. He bit his lips together to stop any sounds escaping but was unable to stop what he was doing to his imaginary George. The pressure built up and up inside him until he thought he would burst with it. He sank his teeth into the pillow as his movements reached a frenzied pace, and with an explosion of heat, and a suppressed moan of white-hot pleasure his penis began to pump. Each pump deposited a measure of warm sticky fluid in his hand and against his pants.

55555

 

When Julian woke the next morning, the semen had dried on his pants and hand, making the skin feel tight. He left the caravan before the others were awake, and washed away the evidence of his nocturnal activity. As he rubbed the surface of his skin dry, he was reminded of Lady Macbeth. Like hers, he knew that his stain would never wash off and that it had changed everything.

 

55555

 

Julian groaned as the memory ended and he returned to the present. George, or Gina as she was now, still hated him. Three years ago, he and Uncle Quentin had let her believe a lie that, at the time, Julian had thought was for the best. She was his cousin, he loved her and had wanted to protect her, but he also had to admit, if only to himself, that she had always been more. From the moment, during their first summer together, when he had slipped his arm through hers, and asked her how Kirrin Island belonged to her, (2) she had made him a whole person and not just ‘dependable old Julian.' He loved her and she hated him, which he could not really blame her for, since she believed, and he had done nothing to make her think otherwise that he had killed Timmy.

 

Footnotes

1 – Five Go Off in a Caravan

2 – Five On a Treasure Island


	3. To Kirrin

Chapter 3 – To Kirrin

Julian pulled up by the club's stage entrance. He checked his watch, it was five minutes to nine so he sat and waited. He had said nine o'clock on the dot, so he would have to abide by his own edict.

He had told Gina that he didn't want to spend three hours in a car with her, but as he sat watching the stage door, waiting for it to open, he realised that wasn't true. Even just being in her company, knowing she hated him seemed preferable to the gulf that not seeing her in three years had created. 

It was nine o'clock now and Julian began to feel the beginnings of irritation. He could not abide lateness. He sighed, and wondered how long he should wait until he knocked on that door? It occurred to him that Gina may have a large trunk, and was struggling to carry it down the stairs. He got out of the car and rang the doorbell until he heard the sound of movement from within. Prepared for Gina's annoyance at his incessant ringing, Julian was shocked when the door was opened by a man.

'This had better be worth it,' the man said,  running an appraising eye over Julian.

Julian recognised him as the man that had held Gina in his arms the previous evening. Whilst last night he had assumed the hug was platonic, the fact that the man was here, where his Gina lived, at this time of the morning, wearing only a dressing gown, suggested a more intimate relationship.

'I'm here to collect George. Gina,' he corrected himself. 'Tell her I’ll wait in the car.'

 

                                                                      55555                                                          

 

'Wait!' Terry called. 'It’s Julian isn't it? Gina's cousin? She said you’d be calling.' Terry found himself comparing Julian to Dick and Gina. When he had met Dick, he had been struck by his physical similarity to Gina; they could have been brother and sister. Julian was totally different in looks to them. He was taller and had a more muscular physique than Dick had. He was fair where they were dark, and there was a coolness about him that was in opposition to Dick's warm open manner although he saw that same coolness in Gina too sometimes. He could understand now why Gina had been apprehensive at seeing him. Julian had a sense of power about him; he was a man that Terry would not want to cross.

Julian turned back to face Terry, his face set hard. 'Are you engaged?' the words were forced through gritted teeth.

'Engaged? Me? To Gina?' Terry was so taken by surprise by the question that a gurgle of laughter burst from his lips. 'God no!'

'So you live with my cousin and have no intention of marrying her, what kind of man are you?'

'It's not like that, she and I, well, I don't. I mean…' Terry gave up. The doorstep of the club, wearing his dressing gown was hardly an appropriate place for that kind of conversation. 'Look, she asked me to let you know that she had gone to Kirrin on the first train. Said that she was worried about her mother, and she didn't want to delay by waiting for you.' The last bit was a lie. Gina had been gloating about standing Julian up, but as Terry stood wilting under his glare, he felt the need to mitigate her action. Here was a man that he did not want as an enemy, either for himself or for Gina.

Julian stalked back to his car leaving Terry to breathe a sigh of relief but worrying that Gina may be in for a difficult second reunion with her cousin.

 

55555

 

As Julian started the car and began the long journey to Kirrin, he felt relieved. The idea of Gina having any surname other than Kirrin had made him feel sick. He had fought so long to hide his feelings for her, even going so far as to convince Uncle Quentin that she should be a debutante with Anne. (1) Of course, he felt better knowing that Anne did not have to negotiate the social circuit alone, but it was only knowing how much George, as was, would loathe it, that he had been able to contemplate her having a season. When one of his best friends had actually shown an interest in his cousin, he had convinced Jeremy that Anne was a much better match for him.

He was disappointed at Gina for having left without him, but could hardly condemn her for being concerned for her mother, and wanting to get home as soon as possible.

He glanced at his watch. They had taken the first train to Kirrin many times during their teenage years. She would not be far from home now. He sighed and tried to relax for his long drive back to the place that he too considered home.

 

*****

 

Gina was less than half an hour away from Kirrin Station when her watch showed her that it was 9 o'clock. The train was the same one that the five of them had travelled on many times. When she had boarded, she had briefly wondered whether to avoid sitting in their carriage, it being empty. Feeling a compulsion that had taken her by surprise, she had sat where _he_ would sit, facing backwards, nearest the door. The adult position when travelling with children she now realised. Her place had been by the window, facing forward, diagonally opposite him. The place that the youngest child would beg to sit, she now realised with embarrassment.

'No wonder, you treated me like a child,' she said to their ghosts sat in the carriage with her. 'You must have laughed at my pathetic attempts to be like a boy!'

She felt a little guilty about leaving Terry to deal with Julian. Darling Terry. What would she have done without him?

 

55555

 

George was broken when she had arrived in London. She’d had money, enough to be comfortable: it didn't matter. Thanks to her season and boarding school, she even knew a few people in town. That didn't matter either. She had felt like she needed to concentrate on every breath she took because her lungs did not see the point of doing it for her anymore. Timmy's death had devastated her of course, but it was Julian's involvement that had left her feeling like she needed to eradicate every aspect of herself that he had been a part of.

Her and Anne had returned from a particularly boring weekend party at Freckleton Manor, Jeremy Thacker's country estate. Anne had mithered about Jeremy all the way home, and George had been none committal. Jeremy may have had the looks and the money, but George had seen the way that his dogs avoided him. If dogs didn’t like somebody, then in George's mind they were not worth liking. Besides, anyone with half a brain could see how Guy Lawler felt about Anne (2).  Dogs liked Guy and so did George.

Their train had pulled into Kirrin Station and Dick was on the platform waiting for them. Anne had waved, delighted to see him. George had hidden her disappointed that Julian had not been with him. She had, she now realised, always craved his company. With barely an acknowledgement of Anne, Dick had drawn her aside. Looking into his eyes, so like her own, she had known something was wrong before he had spoken the words.

'Timmy's died!' the words reverberated in her head like an echo in a cave. Unlike an echo it got louder and louder until it was a scream.

 

 

55555

 

For the first and only time in her life, George had fainted. When she came to, she was in the station master's office, Dick and Anne looking down on her with concern.

'How?' she demanded.

'Not really sure, Ju's being tight-lipped about it. There was an accident he says, and the vet said there was no chance of recovery. I told him that he should have called you first, but Julian said it would have been pointless spoiling your weekend. That you'd never have got back in time anyway. He'd discussed it with your father, but I only found all this out after Timmy had already been put to sleep. Julian was with Timmy right until the end though, George. He wasn't alone.'

'Spoil my weekend! Julian had my dog killed without bothering to call me because he didn't want to “spoil my weekend”?’ George demanded, eyes blazing.

'Well yes, technically,' Dick looked uncomfortable. 'I did tell him that he should have called you but you know Julian. He always thinks he knows what's best.'

 

55555

 

'How dare you!' She swung a fierce right hook that caught Julian under the jaw and flung his head back. She had wished he would fight back as she knew he would against another boy, but against her, he stood and he took it. Blow after blow she rained down on him until her thumps became girlish slaps accompanied by choking sobs. He had tried to gather her into his arms then, but she punched him in the gut and ran from him. She’d stuffed a few clothes into a bag and left on the next train for London.

 

55555

 

Upon arrival, she had wandered aimlessly. Where she would live did not enter her head. She’d tried to mourn Timmy, but all she could think about was Julian. His total contempt, by taking the biggest decision of her life away from her, was obvious. Timmy was her dog, the decision was morally hers to make. Julian’s attempt to comfort her, as if she were a child to be hugged and soothed made her grind her teeth. Especially, since there was part of her that had wanted to press herself against him, and believe that it would all be okay. How could she betray Timmy so readily? She hated herself almost as much as she hated Julian!

Full of self-loathing she walked passed a club. For all her boyish whims whilst growing up, George was a good dancer. The club was small but surprisingly tasteful in its décor. A well-dressed man sat at one of the tables by the stage, muttering over some paperwork. He looked up, surprise and relief at the interruption evident on his face.

'Can I help you?' he asked.

'I need a job,' she stated, 'dancing.'

He raised an eyebrow. Terry had told her later that whilst she hadn’t looked like a typical erotic dancer, there had been something about her that had intrigued him. 'Okay, show me what you can do,' he said.  Setting down his pen, he got up, placed a record on the turntable and watched her with expectant eyes.

Because she felt neither dead nor alive at that point, she had danced with no inhibitions. She had felt intoxicated almost, and more on instinct than with any idea of what would be expected of her in such a club, she began to remove her clothes whilst dancing in time to the music.

Terry had been surprised and watched transfixed until she had reached her underwear.

'Okay stop!' he shouted, scratching the needle across the record. 'Come by tonight, about half past eight. We'll fit you with some costumes and see how you go. Oh and we don't do full nudity here. The underwear is skimpy, but it stays on, understand? This is a club, not a brothel, if that's a problem for you then don't come.'

'No that's fine, I mean I'm not… Thanks,' she muttered embarrassed that he would even think that.

Hearing the obvious breading in her voice and seeing it in her bearing, he had softened. 'What's your name sweetheart?'

She’d hesitated, George was dead, she could feel her lying stone cold side by side with Timmy, both of them murdered by the traitorous Julian. Georgina had never been a name that she had identified with.

'Gina,' she heard herself say. 'Gina Kirrin.'

'I'm Terry, I own The Paragon.'

 

55555

 

She had surprised herself by being a popular erotic dancer, but Terry, who hated paperwork, soon realised that she had a shrewd business head. By the time she turned twenty-one, her dancing had taken a back seat to her co-managing The Paragon. When the solicitor had tracked her down with the papers to release her sizable trust fund, she had talked Terry into forming a partnership and realising his dream of opening a club in a more fashionable part of town.

Three years later, she was an independent businesswoman. She saw her mother away from the club whenever she came to town. She regularly saw Dick when his reporting assignments brought him back to London, and Anne too who had married and very recently divorced the vile Jeremy, but never him. Never Julian. Not until last night.

 

Footnotes

1-      In the UK, Debutants were young ladies of marriageable age, from upper-class families who ‘came out’ that is they were presented to the queen and had a social season of parties. During this time, it was hoped that they would attract the attention of a suitable perspective husband.

2-      Guy Lawler, identical twin brother of Harry. Five On a Secret Trail.


	4. Home Sweet Home

Chapter 4 – Home Sweet Home

There was nobody there to meet Gina at the station. She had not telephoned ahead, so her mother would be expecting her to arrive with Julian at around noon. Mindful of this, she had travelled with only the necessities. Still, her case was too big to carry home from the station, and after being sat in a carriage for the last few hours, the last thing she wanted to do was to sit in a taxi. It was a beautiful day so she decided to check her case into Left Luggage  and to walk the short distance to Kirrin Cottage.

 

55555

 

Gina stepped outside the station and had to fight the urge to turn around and catch the very same train back to London. She wanted to run away from the memories that broke free from the restraints that she had carefully built around them. No! Gina told herself, I am not a child. I always knew that I would have to come home someday. It was only a matter of when.

'I still think of it as home.' She said out loud her voice shaky.

The smell of the sea saturated the air, and as Gina listened, she could hear the sound of waves sloshing on the shingle. The tide is in, she realised. She felt a renewed kinship with her surroundings. It was as if Kirrin recognised her as its own and reclaimed her without hesitation. She felt her mood begin to brighten. She had always loved listening to the sea, the sun on her face, Timmy lying beside her. Timmy. Memories of him and of Julian had been those she had tried the hardest to bury.

She was thankful that she had stood Julian up. Gina had thought that her aversion to spending three hours in close proximity to him was her reason for giving him the slip. She now realised that subconsciously she had known that she needed to be alone during these first moments back at Kirrin. She would not want anyone, especially him to see her so vulnerable.

As she rounded the corner, she got her first look at the harbour and the sea. Her steps faltered. Apart from a few of the boats being different, it still looked how she remembered it. A few more steps on heavy feet, Gina wanted to see and yet she was afraid to. One, two, three, and there it was, her island; Kirrin Island. She could not stop her eyes from filling up. Taking a deep breath, she continued the final few hundred yards to Kirrin Cottage.

Her eyes were drawn first to the tree stump in the front garden. The ash had fallen on the house during the Easter gale, and her father had packed them all off to Smuggler's Top (1). This is how it will be, she thought. Everything I see will remind me of our adventures and happy times. In every memory, he'll be there, like a cancer infecting it. If only I could remember being happy without him. She wiped her tears on the back of her hand. As she walked up the path, she noticed that the ash stump looked different. Bending to examine it, she saw that it had been carved. It was... she gasped, Timmy. Somebody had intricately carved what was unmistakably Timmy's face into the side of the remaining trunk. Anne had done some sculpture at school, but Gina had not really paid much attention to her cousin's hobby. She hadn't realised that Anne was so good.

Gina pushed at the front door and found it unlocked. Typical, she thought. Mother suspects foul play over Father's disappearance, but it still doesn't occur to her to lock the front door. Living in London had knocked the country ways out of Gina and she found the idea of spending her days and nights in an unsecured property rather frightening.

'Hello!' she called. She heard the floorboard in the morning room creak. Somebody was at home then. The morning room door opened to reveal a blonde young woman. 'Anne!' Gina flung herself at her cousin. 'It's so good to see you. How did you get here so quickly? How are you? You look so much better.''

Gina hugged Anne, relieved. When she had last seen Anne, she had been so thin and frail. Her fair skin had always reminded Gina of cream. In the aftermath of Jeremy, her colour had resembled the pale grey of aged whites. Thankfully, her colour seemed to be almost back to normal and whilst she still needed to gain a few pounds, at least she no longer looked like a skeleton.

Anne laughed, 'one thing at a time, it's great to see you too. I've been here for a few weeks actually, taking in the sea air, getting my strength back. I'm trying to figure out what I’m going to do with the rest of my life whilst Aunt Fanny fattens me up.'

'Well, she's doing a great job.' Gina bit her lip not sure whether she should mention it. 'You can do anything you like, go anywhere. There's the money from the settlement I have it in an account for you.'

'No! I don't want anything of his. Whatever I do I won't be beholden to him for it.' Anne's face had taken on a determined edge. It wasn't a look that it got very often, but when it did, Gina knew that she would get nowhere labouring the point. She changed the subject.

'So what's been going on here? What trouble has my father got himself into?'

'Well, it would help if we knew what he'd been working on and for whom. You know what he's like. Even when I asked him what he was working on or how it was going he was vague. He mentioned something about using water as a power source, but that's about as much as I know. It all seemed a bit far-fetched and as you know I am not the most scientifically minded person.'

Gina laughed, 'me neither. Gosh, do you remember how disappointed Madam Gower was when she started at Gaylands. (2) She was a big fan of Father's work and expected us to be his science protégés or something.'

Anne giggled at the memory. 'It was worse for you, she gave up on me after I set fire to her jumper. It took her two terms to realise that you had no interest in looking at her scientific theories over afternoon tea.'

'Well, actually that part wasn't so bad. I had some jolly nice cakes in her parlour. I only put a stop to it when summer arrived. I didn't want to spend a free sunny afternoon couped up with her when I could be outside with you and Timmy, no matter how jammy her scones were.'

They’d wandered back into the morning room and Anne poured them both a cup of tea. They sat in the window seat both quiet for a moment before Anne resumed.

'Uncle Quentin went out for the day. He told your mother and I that he was collecting water samples. That he was going to the beach and then to Kirrin Farm to collect some from the spring there. He didn't come home that night. Aunt Fanny wasn't worried though. The weather had turned throughout the course of the day and she thought that he would have stayed over at the farm. We didn't worry the next day either because if he had stayed over, it made sense that he would have carried on where he had left off. It was only that night that we started to worry.'

'Did you call the police,' Gina asked, sipping her tea.

'Yes, they were not very helpful. They seemed to think that Uncle Quentin may have left your mother.'

Gina snorted in disbelief, 'They obviously don’t know Father at all. As if he could be bothered with a mistress. His work was everything and Mother took excellent care of him. I think they only had me to give Mother something to do whilst Father was working.'

'I'm sure that's not true. Your father loves you and your mother very much. He's just a bit preoccupied.'

'Yeh, anyway carry on with the story.' Gina said, unconvinced.

'Well, Aunt Fanny telephoned Julian. She thought that because Uncle Quentin had worked on some projects of national security that the MoD would be able to help.'

'Did he? I mean they.'

'They’re limited as to what they can do because Uncle Quentin is a civilian and isn't working on anything security related at the moment. Julian called in a few favours though and they are keeping their eyes open for anything that may be linked.'

'So does anybody have any idea what has happened to my father?' asked Gina.

Anne looked down at her empty cup, rotating it around her saucer. 'I do.’

'And.'

'He's been kidnapped.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yes,' said Anne. 'They've contacted me, well I took the call and I think they assumed that I was Aunt Fanny. They say that they’ll be in touch with their demands.'

'Have you told the police this?'

'No the kidnappers said not to. They say that if we report it to the police that they will take him abroad and force him to work for enemies of Britain. Also, that they’ll provide proof to the authorities that Uncle Quentin is a traitor to his country! The whole family will be disgraced.'

'I see,' said Gina. 'Does Julian,' she said his name through gritted teeth, 'know about this.'

Anne shuck her head. 'Not yet, Aunt Fanny hinted at something when she spoke to him, but we didn't want to tell him over the phone. We need to make him understand that he mustn't report this. '

'Hmmm. I see the problem, but why has Mother decided to gather us all here? What does it achieve?'

Anne looked a bit sheepish. 'Well, actually that was my idea. I thought, well, we were one pretty good at this kind of thing.'

'Darling Anne, have you completely lost your mind? The last time Julian saw Dick he threatened to kill him, and as for Julian and I… well let’s just say that by the end of today you could be missing both brothers.' Gina stood up and placing her cup on the table began to pace. 'You seriously think that we can put everything to one side and have some kind of adventure? Oh Anne, we aren't children anymore. Even if I wanted to, I have obligations back in London. I cannot spend days, hours, my god even minutes with Julian!'

‘I'm so sorry. I just wanted everything to be back like it used to be before everything went so wrong. I thought if we could all get together and find your father that everything would be alright.

‘Julian had been calling me every few days before I left London, trying to arrange to meet up. I've kept putting him off, I just couldn't face seeing him after the… Jeremy was his friend,' Anne trailed off.

'You haven't told Julian?'

Anne shuck her head,

'Dick?'

Another shake, 'I thought it would be easier to tell them together, with you here too since there may be parts that I can't explain very well.' Anne said.

Gina hugged Anne tight. 'No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so selfish. Of course I'll be there with you.'

'You've done so much for me already. I shouldn't ask this.'

'Of course you should, and I'd do it all again,' and more besides, she thought to herself. Her one regret was not actually killing the bastard. 'Don't worry anymore about it. Let me go and freshen up then we can catch up. I smell of train.' Gina wrinkled her nose in disdain.

'Oh, I’d meant to ask how you’d got here so early. I thought that Julian was picking you up,' Anne said.

'Yes so did he,' Gina said with a smirk.

'Gina, he'll be furious.'

'I don't care what he is. He has no right barging into my life and making demands.' With that Gina swept up the stairs, leaving Anne fiddling with her hair.

 

55555

 

Gina had to admit to herself that she was a little apprehensive about Julian's impending arrival. She had telephoned Terry to let him know that she had arrived safely, and he had told her about his run in with her cousin.

'Darling, just what is it with you two? If you hadn't told me that he was your cousin, I would have thought he was an angry, jealous boyfriend.'

Gina had laughed uneasily. 'Julian is just a busybody who thinks he has the right to interfere in the lives of those around him. Don't worry about him.'

'I don't, but I do worry about you. Don't do anything rash. Don't get into any trouble' Terry had rung off after assuring her that all was fine at The Paragon.

Trouble, Gina thought. I've no intention of getting into any trouble but if the opportunity presents itself, I'll make damn sure that Julian gets his fair share.

 

Footnotes

1 – Five Go To Smuggler’s Top

2 – Gaylands, the boarding school that George and Anne attend


	5. The Common Denominator

Chapter 5 - The Common Denominator

Gina spent a pleasant morning with Anne. Her mother had been out shopping when she'd arrived and upon her return was delighted to find her daughter at home. She ushered both women into the kitchen to help her prepare lunch.

'Are you okay sleeping in your old room with Anne? I was going to put Julian in the guest room and Dick in their old room. Both  rooms are doubles now anyway, but I didn’t know if they had been reconciled since that business with Annabella.'

'That would be a no, Mother. I saw Dick recently and he hasn't seen Julian in ages.'

'You know I love Dick dearly, but I don't know what he was thinking, taking up with her,' her mother said.

'There was more to it than that Mother. It would probably be best not to mention it.'

Her mother sighed and paused in her pea shelling. 'I'm sure you're right, dear. What _are_ you doing to that pie crust? I see your baking skills haven't improved since you left home. Oh, Anne yours looks lovely.' Wiping her hands on her apron she shooed Gina away from the gnarled pie. 'Here,' she said with a laugh, thrusting a pile of bedding into Gina's arms. 'Go and make the beds up in the boys' rooms.'

Gina grinned, and grateful to be relieved of kitchen duties, she headed off upstairs.

 

55555

 

She started with the room that Dick had shared with Julian as a boy. Unlike her own room that she shared with Anne, this room was different to how she remembered it. The two twin beds had been replaced with a double and the walls had been given a fresh coat of paint. Mother had explained that she provided accommodation for tourists during the summer season. Now that she didn't have the children to look after, she had found that she had a lot of time on her hands. At a time in their lives when other couples their age would be enjoying this new freedom, her father remained as preoccupied with his work, and selfish to her mother's needs as ever. Bristling with indignation on her behalf, Gina pumped pillows and tucked sheets until Dick's bed was perfectly made.

The spare room, as her mother called it, was not in the same part of the house as what had been the children's rooms. Consequently, it was not a room that Gina had ventured into very often. It looked similar, furniture wise, to how she remembered it, but this room too had been freshened up. The walls were lighter in colour and the curtains were light and airy. Very different than when Mr Roland, their tutor, had stayed here, she thought. (1)

As Gina moved around the bed tucking in the corners of the sheets, she became uncomfortable at making up the bed that _he_ would sleep in.

'Pity I don't have any itching powder to put in _his_ bed,' she said out loud.

'A fact that I am very grateful for,' came a voice from the door.

Gina gasped and spun around to find herself face to face with her nemesis. His face was unreadable and she felt the adrenaline flood her body, ready for their inevitable confrontation.

'I was just making your bed,' she said, cursing herself at how limp a response it was. 'I'm done; I'll leave you to it.’ With that, she summoned all her dignity and walked towards him with the expectation that he would step aside and let her through the door.

Julian didn't move. 'Thank you for the bed, minus the itching powder,' with that his face broke into a grin. Despite not wanting to, Gina could not help her own grin from forming.

'You're welcome.'

Julian's hand shot out and grabbed hers, 'of course it doesn't make up for standing me up. I felt a right idiot being told, by a man in a dressing gown no less, that you'd left without me.'

Despite her hand being in his, it was his warm chocolate eyes locked with her crystalline blue ones, that held her captive. Gina’s brain gave up on any chance that she had of lying to him.

'I haven't been home since… you know. I needed to be alone, to do things at my own pace.'

Julian's face softened, 'why didn't you explain this to me. I thought you were just being difficult. I wouldn't have pushed if you had told me that.'

Gina felt her hackles rise at this. 'Really? You didn't exactly come across as Mr Reasonable you know. Barging in, criticising me and making demands!' To her surprise Julian didn't deny it.

'I know, I'm sorry. I was tired, very shocked by what I'd seen, but let's not go into that now,' he added, seeing her face darken. 'I reacted badly and I didn't realise that you might need to do this by yourself, I should have. Forgive me?'

Yes, yes, yes. I forgive you, I forgive you for everything, the part of her mind that was processing the sensation of having her hand in his shouted at her, much to her horror. How could she think that after what he'd done? This is why I have avoided him all these years, she realised. Being with him makes my head spin. I need to hate him, I owe it to Timmy.

Julian raised their joined hands and entwined his fingers around hers. The gasp that she had successfully swallowed when he had first taken hold of her hand could no longer be suppressed. Her heart began to race and desperate though she was to rip her eyes from his she could not.

'You feel it too don't you?' We belong together you, Dick, Anne and I. There’s been a part of me missing since the four of us drifted apart.''

His words, if anything were a relief. Julian was obviously talking about some childhood bond that he believed they all shared. Trying to regain some control over her emotions and remember who it was she was stood holding hands with, she retorted,

'Five. You mean the five of us or have you forgotten about Timmy?'

'I haven't forgotten,' Julian raised her hand and placed it over his heart. 'Timmy is a part of us all, he always will be.'

What am I doing? The question screamed in Gina's mind. She didn't have an answer for herself. Julian's hand held hers only lightly, she could have pulled it away from the firm pectoral it was pressed against, at any point. Instead, she stood there, feeling his racing heart that matched her own. Not for the same reason though she thought and felt her face flush with embarrassment.

'Julian! Gina! Lunch is ready.' Her mother's voice cut through the paralysed state that her logic seemed to have become stuck in, and now she snatched her hand away.

'And do you know what the common denominator is, Julian? You! You are the one who nobody wants in their lives. I see Dick and Anne all the time. When did you last see any of us?'

'Now hold on a minute, I will accept that where you and I are concerned I have a case to answer, but how is coming home and finding my brother in bed with my fiancée my fault? As for Anne, I haven't seen her in a while but that wasn't through lack of trying on my part. I didn't want to just call on her out of the blue, she's not long married for goodness sake. You can't just descend on your married sister unannounced, even if she is married to a good friend.'

Relieved to be able to ignore his challenge about Dick and Annabella, she struck. 'Oh yes, your good friend Jeremy. Tell me Julian, did you know what his nickname was when you married Anne off to him? Well, did you? Jeremy "Wacker"" Thacker!'

'What?' he asked confused. Gina saw the instant that he understood what she was saying. 'He hits her?' the question was muted, as if he was afraid to speak the words. Any triumph that Gina may have felt at felling him was absent; because this was Anne they were talking about. Her beautiful, gentle cousin, his sister who they both loved.

Gina nodded. 'It was awful. He didn't just slap her. Oh, Julian the bruises. I'll never forget the bruises. That wasn't all he did either. He…' They heard a gasp at the door and both turned. Anne stood there, her eyes wide with shock.

'Aunt Fanny sent me to fetch you,' she stuttered.

'Anne,' Julian said reaching out to her.

'No! Don't touch me. I'm sorry,' Anne sobbed and fled.

Julian turned to Gina. 'What does she mean, she's sorry?'

'She's convinced that once you found out the truth, you'd be disappointed with her. Well…' Gina inclined her head and gave him a hard shove. 'Go after her you idiot.'

As he took off after his sister, Gina hoped for Anne's sake that Julian would show her the unconditional love that she knew her cousin needed.

 

Footnotes

1 – The tutor from Five Go Adventuring Again


	6. All Those Secrets

Chapter 6 – All Those Secrets

He found Anne in the garden. She was sat on the swing, her face a picture of misery.

'Why didn't you tell me the first time he hurt you?' he asked, 'you must know that I would never have let it happen again.'

'I'm sorry. I wanted to manage to do something myself without running to my big brother,' she held her face in her hands. 'Oh, Julian I tried so hard to be a good wife. I thought that if I could just be better, then Jeremy would love me, after all he was your friend. You were so approving of my marrying him.'

'Sweetheart, I had no idea that Jeremy was so despicable. You do know that don't you? Had I known, I would never have let him anywhere near you, or any other woman for that matter,' Julian told her. 'I feel terrible for my part in it. Anne I am so sorry. I don't want to ask you to tell me anything that makes you uncomfortable, but I am here for you. Anything you want to talk about. There is nothing that you can't tell me, nothing that he did to you could make me love you any less.' Gina, he recalled had been about to elaborate on something before Anne had overheard them. He made a mental note to ask her later.

'Oh Julian!' Anne cried and flew into his arms.

He held her close while she sobbed into his shirt. As he comforted his sister, his thoughts turned to Jeremy. He would make him pay for what he had done. As Anne's sobs subsided she lifted her face from his chest and Julian was surprised to see that she was smiling.

 ‘I knew that everything would be better once we were all back together,' she said.

He didn't want to hurt her, but he couldn't let her have any false hope that they were all going to become friends again. Gina hated _him_ because of Timmy and he hated? No hate was the wrong word. Dick had betrayed him when he took Annabella into his bed. He didn’t hate Dick, but how could he ever trust him again? Seeing the hope in Anne's eyes, he kissed her forehead,

'Let's just take it one day at a time shall we? Shall we go back inside? Aunt Fanny has gone to a lot of trouble over lunch; it would be a shame if it were spoilt. You can fill me in on the details of Uncle Quentin's disappearance while we eat.'

Linking her arm through his, they headed back into the cottage.

                                                                          

55555

Aunt Fanny and Anne gave him the details of Uncle Quentin's abduction. Gina was quiet, but he supposed she had heard the story and had already asked any questions that had occurred to her.

'You were right to keep quiet about this. Until we know who may have taken Uncle Quentin and what they want for his safe return, we have to tread carefully.

Anne and his aunt looked relieved by his words. Gina looked far from impressed.

'What exactly does that mean Julian? Do we just sit around and wait for them to start sending bits of Father to Mother in the post? I can think of a few parts of him that wouldn't be a loss to 'science' or anyone else for that matter!'

'Georgina Kirrin how dare you speak about your father that way! You may have your issues with him but don't ever presume that you understand _our_ relationship or how he and I feel about each other!'

'Mother I'm sorry; I didn't mean to upset you.' Gina felt terrible adding to her mother's worries. 'I just can't stand sitting around here while we wait for the kidnappers to get in touch. Of course, I am upset about Father if only for your sake.'

'Oh Gina, I do wish you could find room in your heart for forgiveness. Your father loves you very much; he just didn't always know how to show it. You are more like him than you care to admit, stubborn and proud. Your father only ever wanted what was best for you, as did J…'

'Hello!' interrupted a voice from the door. 'Have I come at a bad time?'

'Dick!' Gina and Anne called in unison, Gina with relief at the distraction. Julian too was pleased that Aunt Fanny had not finished her sentence. Gina, he knew, would have found the 'Julian knows best' speech patronising.

Gina rushed over to Dick and flung herself into his arms. It was as unlike their own meeting as Julian could imagine. He felt his stomach twist in envy, even more when he recalled her words from earlier – 'I see Dick all the time.' To all appearances it was an affectionate hug between cousins, but then he'd never sensed anything between his brother and Annabella either. I have to stop this, he thought. I can't keep thinking that she is involved with every man that we see. Besides what if she were? It’s nothing to do with me. Even had they not been estranged, Gina was a grown woman and who she associated with was none of his business. Perhaps, he thought, if I’d not interfered with Anne's life she’d not have married a wife beater.

 

55555

 

As the eldest, he had always been the one in control. He managed their time, their budget, even which temporary associates, during their adventures, were respected, and those who were merely tolerated. Dick and Anne had made friends readily. Their open natures made them approachable and quick to include others. Gina and he were more guarded, although her criteria for liking people centred on whether they had liked Timmy, and whether they mistook her for a boy. Looking at her now, it seemed hard to imagine that there had ever been a time when her body was anything other than feminine.

Dick looked over in his direction. The grin he was wearing for Gina froze and he nodded.

'Julian.'

Julian inclined his head, 'Dick.'

By now Aunt Fanny and Anne had joined in the hugging.

'I say Aunt Fanny, I'm starving, any chance of some of that wonderful looking lunch?'

They sat back down and the story was repeated once more for Dick's benefit. Julian was struck by the similarity to some of their childhood adventures. Back then, Dick had been a rock, always supportive, always watching his back. Then he remembered that he could no longer trust his brother. 'Please excuse me,' Julian said. 'I need to unpack; I'll leave you to catch up.'

55555

 

After unpacking, Julian lay on the bed. He could hear the muffled voices from downstairs. He heard an exclamation from Dick and assumed that Anne was telling him about Jeremy. What am I doing here? He thought. They’re all going to expect me to have all the answers and I haven't a clue how to find Uncle Quentin. When we were children, everything seemed to fall into place. We always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. We never actually set out to have adventures or solve the crime, it just happened that way. Dick's a reporter, perhaps he has some formal investigative skills that may be of use, perhaps he knows where we can start.

Even if they were able to discover anything that could help find Uncle Quentin, could the four of them really work together? Nobody had a problem with Anne, but he had issues with Dick and Gina. Gina. It always came back to her. When he had found her in his bedroom giving voice to her desire to make him itch, he had only been upset until he had seen her mortification. He had soon found himself grinning like a schoolboy and had been very surprised that she too had relaxed and acknowledged the humour of the situation. Exactly how he had ended up holding her hand against his chest, he could not fathom. That she had allowed it had shocked him. What had really shaken him though, was that he had almost let it slip that he had feelings for her. Luckily, he had managed to cover it with the childhood camaraderie line.

He wanted more than anything to be reconciled with her, but how could he do that without telling her the full story about Timmy? How could he ever explain how much he cared about her without giving away _exactly_ how much her cared about her? He sighed, perhaps it was better to just let her carry on hating him.

He heard the front door bang and he rose from the bed and crossed over to the window. Dick was holding the passenger door of his car open for Gina with a flourishing bow. They were both laughing as she gave him a playful swipe. Their relationship looked warm and uncomplicated, how he envied them each other.

 

55555

 

Julian headed downstairs to find Aunt Fanny in the kitchen cleaning away the lunch dishes. Taking the t-towel from her, he insisted she sit at the kitchen table and rest while he finished off.

Feigning ignorance he asked. 'Where is everyone?'

'Anne's resting. She was very poorly when she first arrived and got tired easily. I persuaded her that she should have a lie down for a couple of hours in the afternoons. Dick has given Gina a lift to the station to collect up her bags.

‘Oh Julian I do hope that you and Gina can reconcile your differences, you and Dick too. When I think back to how inseparable the four of you were, I could just cry at how everything has turned out.'

'I know Aunt Fanny, and as Gina points out, I am the common denominator for all the problems. It's up to me to try and make everything right.'

'She said that?' asked his aunt. 'That was unfair of her. She still loves you very much you know Julian. Every time I visited her in London, I would tell her everyone's news including yours. She never said she wasn't interested, in fact,' Aunt Fanny gave a little laugh, 'if I didn't know any better I would have said that she seemed quite put out when I told her that you had got engaged. Especially when I told her to whom.'

Hope at his aunt’s declaration that Gina still loved him, was temporarily overshadowed by surprise.

'I didn't realise she knew Annabella.' Julian had finished the last of the dishes, and now took a seat by his aunt.

'Oh yes, they were very good friends for a while. She even stayed here a couple of times during school holidays when you, Anne and Dick weren’t here.'

Julian didn't know why this news should bother him, but it did. Not that Gina had failed to mention Annabella. After all, why should she tell her cousins about a random girl who she happened to be friends with? Annabella, on the other hand, must have surely known that Gina was his cousin. They shared an unusual surname, besides; he had told Annabella the names of his family. He said as much to his aunt.

'Oh well, they were only friends for a short time,' Aunt Fanny laughed, 'you know Gina and her temper. I asked her whether she wanted to invite her over and she told me that they’d had a fight and were no longer friends.' She patted his arm. 'Did you love her very much?'

Julian shrugged, not really wanting to explain the extent of his feelings for Annabella to her.

'Not enough it seemed.'

'I know that you probably don't realise this now Julian but some people are just meant to be together. Annabella wasn't the one for you. Perhaps she and Dick were so much in love that they just lost all sense of propriety.'

Julian snorted, 'Oh Aunt if that were the case I would have forgiven Dick instantly. Do you think they’re still together? They aren't. Dick had no interest in a relationship with her. I would have done anything for Dick and had they been in love I would have stepped aside and given them my blessing. I don't think that they even saw each other again after I caught them together. What kind of man does that to his brother? Sleeps with his fiancée for no reason other than to break them up?'

'I don't have an answer for you Julian. I just know Dick. I can't believe that he would set out to steal your fiancée just to score some kind of victory over you.'

'Well, if you're right Aunt Fanny, he’s never seen fit to enlighten me as to his real reason.'

'Have you asked him?' Julian shuck his head. 'Perhaps you should. After all the root of Gina's issue with you is that you won't tell her the full story about Timmy. No Julian before you say anything, you should know that your uncle has not told me anything, and I don't want to know. I don't want to be in the position of having to lie to my daughter. I'm sure that you and Quentin had a good reason for acting as you did, unfathomable as it may be to the rest of us.'

Julian pondered his aunt's words. There was a lot about the situation with Dick and Annabelle that didn't make sense. Could she be right? It seemed an irrelevant question, but one that he needed to know the answer to.

'Aunt Fanny, did you like Annabella?'

'Honestly Julian no, not even a little. She had a slyness about her. I was glad when Gina and she fell out. Quentin, on the other hand, was very fond of her.'

Julian was shocked by this. 'Fond, I didn't think that my uncle was bothered about children one way or the other, as long as they didn't disturb his work.'

'Well, Annabella showed a lot of interest in his work you see. He even let her help him with some of his experiments. I never told Gina this because once their friendship had ended there was no point. Your uncle was planning on offering Annabella a job as his assistant during the summer holidays.'

The front door slamming and the sound of Dick protesting at the weight of Gina's trunk brought their conversation to an end. Julian gave his aunt a quick hug.

'I'll remember what you said; I just can't imagine any valid reason for what my brother did,' said Julian.

Aunt Fanny was not quite finished with him though. 'Just like my daughter can't imagine any valid reason for what her cousin did.'


	7. Chapter 7 - As Good as a Boy

Chapter 7 – As Good as a Boy

When Gina and Dick arrived back at Kirrin Cottage, Anne was still resting. Unable to unpack, her own and Dick's luggage cluttered up the hallway. Julian coming out of the kitchen fell over it and stormed off to his room leaving Dick and Gina sniggering.

'Going to nip out to the Harbour Cafe for a bit,' Dick told her. 'See if there's any gossip and goings on regarding your father, or if there any strangers in town that may need investigating. Do you want to come?'

Gina shuck her head, 'no, it's fine. I want to be here when Anne wakes up, make sure she's okay.'

Dick gave her shoulder a squeeze. 'Thank god you found out what had been going on and got her out of there. I still can't believe that you did that, marching in there and taking her. You should have called me.'

'I really didn't know that there was time Dick, besides you know me, rush in and to hell with the consequences.'

'Gosh, yes. I'll always remember you defying Julian and rowing over to Kirrin Island knowing full well that there were thieves waiting for you.(1) You were always so brave, so determined that Julian and I not get in the way of your adventure. He always admired you for that you know? We both did.'

Gina did not look convinced. 'Hmmm it may have been that way at first but by the time I hit my teens, I think he’d lost patience with me. He disapproved of me dressing and acting like a boy. He constantly looked for ways to make me more girlish, making me stay behind with Anne while you two went looking for Spook Trains.(2) He always pointed out that I was, in fact, a girl and should be helping in the kitchen.'

'I did notice that.' Dick said.

'Do you know what Dick? Sometimes, I think that he was deliberately trying to make me cry. One of the reasons why I kept on with the wanting to be a boy thing was rebellion against his overbearing ways.' One, but not the only one, she thought. 'Well, he got his wish, although I don't think he enjoyed meeting the new me.'

Dick gave a chuckle, 'Now that I would have loved to have seen. Just knowing you ran a club like that would have sent his head spinning, but the fact that he called on a night that you just happened to be performing is priceless. Was he terribly upset?'

'I've never seen him like that; he was like a totally different person.'

Dick pondered a moment. 'Julian took his role as the responsible leader very seriously; he always did, even before we knew you. I always felt quite sorry for him really. He never got to play the fool like the rest of us. He was always the one that "should know better." He was different in school, more laid back,'

'Laid back Julian? That _I_ would have liked to have seen. Even when we were children he was so controlling. I suppose that's why he thought it was quite acceptable to have Timmy put down without even asking me.' Gina could feel her face burning with indignation.

Dick dropped a quick kiss on to her forehead. 'I won't pretend to know why he didn't call you. He maintains that it would have served no purpose, but I agree that it should have been your decision to make… Now are you sure you don't want to join me at the café for a sticky bun, tea and the finest Kirrin gossip?'

She laughed, Dick could always lift her mood whenever she felt in the doldrums. 'No, I have some paperwork to catch up on so I'll take the opportunity whilst it's quiet.'

 

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Gina set herself up on the dining room table surrounded by pencils, piles of invoices and receipts, plus the huge ledger that took up the equivalent of two place settings.

It had come as a surprise that she was fabulous at bookkeeping. Terry would procrastinate over it for days before finally grumbling off to do it. One month his accountant had called in, after listening to the man chiding her then employer for his sloppy record keeping, she had asked the accountant to show her how to do it.

She found the methodical double entry of debits and credits soothing, and took pride in a perfectly balanced book. After the first quarter, Terry's accountancy bill was considerably lower due to perfectly presented ledgers, and Gina found herself with a new role at The Paragon.

 

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Engrossed as she was, she did not hear the sound of footsteps on the stairs. She felt rather than heard a presence behind her in the doorway. She knew without turning that it was Julian. How does he do that, she wondered, fill the house up with an aura that seems to alter the very texture of the air?

'Am I disturbing you?' he asked.

'Obviously!'

'I'll leave you alone then, but I would like at some point to speak to you about Anne.'

Gina sighed and closing the book, turned to face Julian. 'You did well before, when you talked to her, she seems much happier now. What do you want to know?'

'Everything, because when I kill that animal I want to know exactly what I'm killing him for.' He delivered this with a coldness that took Gina by surprise. Certainly he had always held his emotions inside himself, but calmness in the midst of rage was alien to her. When she was angry nobody was in any doubt, and if they knew what was good for them, they kept their distance.

She nodded, 'Okay, you'd better get us both a couple of large sherries. Mother keeps a bottle in the sideboard over there.' Julian poured them both a generous measure. Gina downed hers in one and handed the empty back to him. 'Fill it again.'

'Are you sure? This stuff is awfully strong.'

'Believe me, it needs to be.' Julian sat down opposite Gina. 'My club, the Paragon that you have pegged as some den of iniquity, is in fact nothing of the kind. Full nudity is not permitted nor are private dances, or "dates" with patrons. It's a club where men go to enjoy a few drinks, get a good meal and enjoy watching some very talented young ladies dance. In many respects, it's not so dissimilar to watching a show in the West End.

‘The majority of our patrons are no trouble whatsoever, but as you'd expect, there is the odd one here and there. In particular, there was a group of well-connected young men who we'd had problems with before. Tried to get too familiar with the girls and not just in a too much to drink and getting a bit amorous kind of way.' Gina paused and took another gulp of the sherry. 'They were rough. Terry threw them out of course, but the next day one of their number came to see him. He was apologetic blamed the wine etcetera. Anyway he assured Terry that it would not happen again. It doesn't do to upset well-connected patrons if it can be helped, so we gave them the benefit of the doubt.

'We didn't see them for a long time, our club was bit too tame for them. Their tastes were much more specialised you could say.' Gina allowed Julian to register the meaning of her words, before continuing at his nod. 'One night they came in quite early. Whilst there are many clubs better suited to their requirements, none of them has an award winning French Chef in their kitchens. I expect that their plan was to go somewhere else after their meal.

'I served their table myself. I didn't want any of the staff feeling compromised if any of the men tried anything. As I was walking away, I heard one of them say that Thacker should be back off his honeymoon now. I hid around the corner from their table, where I could hear them. They all laughed in a very crude way that I found rather sinister. They then said,' Gina took another large swig of her drink. 'Are you sure you want to hear this Julian?'

'I need to hear this, go on.'

'They said how Jeremy had promised them all "a turn on her." They wondered if she would be compliant. One of them said, that after two week's honeymoon, Jeremy would have knocked any fight she had out of her, that he wasn't called "Wacker Thacker" for nothing.'

Julian buried his head in his hands and Gina had to fight the urge to take hold of him. Recanting the story brought it all back and she could not help but imagine the comfort that being in his arms would also give her. She stood and crossed over to the sideboard. Retrieving the sherry she brought it back to the table and refilled their glasses.

'Shall I go on?' she asked him. A stiff nod to the affirmative. 'I took Terry's car and drove around to their town house but they weren't there. The housekeeper begrudgingly told me that they weren't due back until the next afternoon. They were still at Freckleton Manor, so I drove there. The roads were clear and I must have broken every speed limit that there was. It was gone midnight by the time I got there so I'd had a bit of time to mull things over. I decided to try and break in and take Jeremy by surprise. I got lucky because there was downstairs window open and I knew my way around the house pretty well. There had been a ball there during our debutante season. I found the master bedroom and barged straight in. Oh Julian, if you'd have seen her. He wasn't there, gone out whoring and gambling I found out later. Anne was terrified, she didn't even recognise me at first but then I hardly recognised her either. She mustn't have eaten a thing since the wedding she was so thin. Her face he hadn't touched, but the rest of her was almost one continual bruise. I was scared to touch her for fear of hurting her. I got her dressed, left a note for Jeremy to tell him I knew all about him and not to come after Anne, and got her out the way I'd come in.'

Julian looked like he was going to be sick. 'Thank you for what you did, at great personal risk to yourself. You should have called me, or Dick at least if you couldn't bring yourself to talk to me.'

'Dick said the same, but my main concern was to get her out as soon as I could.'

'Neither you or Anne need worry about Jeremy again. I’ll leave for London in the morning and take care of it.'

Gina cleared her throat. 'It's already taken care of Julian.'

'Meaning what? You left him a note telling him to stay away from my sister and you think that's enough?'

'Of course that was not enough!' Gina snapped back. 'Shut up and I'll tell you the rest.

'Clubland is a very close knit group of businesses. Consequently, I know some people who could be described as having questionable ethics. Some of these people even owe me a favour or two. Jeremy was taken, chained and every bruise, every wound, and every indignity that he subjected Anne to was replicated on him. The anatomical differences necessitated a couple of adaptions, but I think we got pretty close to a match. '

'Oh my god!' whispered Julian. 'Where you there, did you… do those things?'

'No, Terry wouldn't let me go. If I had been there, I would have just killed him.' Gina stated. 'Anyway, I took pictures of Anne and went round to see Lord Thacker.'

'What did Jeremy's father have to say?' asked Julian.

'He's nothing like his son. He was horrified when he saw what had been done to Anne. Said that he knew Jeremy was a bit on the wild side but he'd never suspected anything like that. That he had hoped a good marriage would calm him down. He has pulled some strings and arranged an annulment, settled a huge sum of money on Anne, which she refuses to touch. I have in an account for her. Best thing is that he’s shipped Jeremy off to one of his business concerns in the Commonwealth and promised me that he'll not be allowed to return to England again. Gina stood and swayed under the influence of the sherry. 'Well, that's about it Julian. I suppose that you're going to tell me what a terribly unladylike thing it is that I've done and I should have stayed at home with my needlework?'

'No I'm going to thank you with my last breath you infuriating girl!' With that, he swept an unsteady, surprised Gina into his arms and held her there.

Gina could imagine her sober self was currently locked in a cage, banging furiously on the bars. The tipsy Gina snuggled into Julian a little more.

'Hmmm this feels nice, and you do smell heavenly Julian.'

With a startled protest from Gina, Julian held her away from him and looked into her eyes. 'You're drunk,' he admonished.

'Well, of course, I am, silly; you can't drink half a bottle of sherry in the afternoon and be anything other.' Gina hiccoughed.

'You need to lie down my girl.' Julian said. 'Come on I'll help you upstairs. Oh blast!' he exclaimed tripping over the luggage again. Gina giggled. 'Shush, you'll wake Anne.'

Julian opened the door to the girls' room and escorted Gina to her bed. 'Get some rest,' he ordered.

Gina felt her lips mumble something that was unintelligible, even to her own ears.

 

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Julian was almost out of the door when he heard Gina mumble,

'Am I really?'

'Are you really what?' he asked. She spoke so softly that afterwards he wondered if he'd imagined it.

'Your girl?'

 

 

Footnotes

1 – Five Are Together Again

2 – Five Go Off to Camp


	8. Chapter 8 And then Timmy

Chapter 8 – And then Timmy

When Gina awoke, Anne's bed was empty and made neatly. Apart from a dry throat, she felt well, considering the amount of sherry she had drunk. Gina was always working during the times that civilised people tended to drink, so she rarely had the opportunity to indulge. With no tolerance, even a small amount of alcohol went straight to her head.  A glass of water had been placed on her bedside table and she drank it with begrudged gratitude. Julian must have put it there.

Having tidied her hair she headed downstairs. Peering around the sitting room door, she took a moment to imagine that they were a normal family, rather than one filled with secrets and feuds. Dick sat reading the local newspaper whilst Anne sat conversing with Julian. She looked happier than Gina had seen her in a long time. Julian looked… she nibbled her bottom lip; there really was no other way to describe him other than amazing. He had showered and changed since she had last seen him. His hair was still slightly damp and he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt that did nothing to dispel her earlier impression of a well-muscled physique.

She seemed to be spending an increasing amount of time reminding herself that she hated Julian. She had never allowed herself to think logically about the situation with Timmy, but having to spend time with Julian was forcing her to do so. Her musings were leaving behind some uncomfortable realisations. Whilst she was still bristling at his high-handed attitude, she had to concede that she too had taken somewhat of a liberty when, and still unbeknownst to him, she had interfered in Julian's personal life. That had been for his own good though, she rationalised. Just like he believed that he was acting in _your_ best interests, the pro-Julian voice in her head slyly pointed out.

Gina could no longer deny that he had done the right thing by Timmy. She would not have wanted her beloved dog to have suffered unnecessarily by waiting for her to get home. She just hated that she had not been there for him at the end. Realising the truth of this was forcing her to re-examine the root of her resentment. Timmy's death may have provided an outlet for it, but, Gina admitted to herself, she had been seething ever since Julian had convinced her father that she ought to be a Debutante with Anne.

The indignity of being paraded around a ballroom like a heifer at an auction was bad enough, but that Julian had never bothered to attend any of the balls himself had left her fuming.

 

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Julian had just finished his degree and had already been headhunted by the Ministry of Defence. Everyone expected him to achieve great things with his life. Gina had reluctantly agreed to a Debutante Season because her stupid teenage mind had come up with a preposterous notion. That Julian wanted _her_ to acquire the finer qualities that he desired, and considered necessary in order to make her his wife.

Gina gritted her teeth at the memory of having misunderstood Julian so thoroughly. As if he ever saw me as anything other than his childish cousin, she huffed to herself. Retreating from the doorway before any of her cousins noticed her; she slipped out of the front door. Trying to calm her turbulent thoughts, she sank to her knees by the carving of Timmy's face in the ash stump. Her fingers traced its grains and grooves enjoying the physical sensation against her fingertips. The bark was warm to touch and triggered the memory of her hand held against Julian's chest.

Upper-class men had little need for manual labour, and so tended to be leaner than the lower classes, for whom physical exercise was an incidental part of daily life. Julian has no business being so muscular, she thought. Her face warmed as the memory played out of his hand, holding hers against his rock hard chest.

Back when she had been George, she had always enjoyed a certain amount of physical contact with Julian. When they were children they had linked arms as they walked, and when they swam they had splashed and ducked each other. As a child, she would get a fluttery feeling in her tummy that made her feel warm and happy. She could never stay in a bad mood for very long when she was in Julian's company.

When she was about fourteen, he began withdrawing from her. Up until then he had treated her similarly to how he treated Dick. Then suddenly he didn't, and to all outward appearances, he began treating her more like he did Anne. No, that wasn't right either, she had  fretted. He'd still had an easy familiarity with his sister that he withheld from her. For a while, she had felt rejected and angry by this, but in true 'good old George' style, had refused to show it – like a girl would have done. On the one hand Julian seemed determined to cast her into a female role and yet he showed no interest in getting to know the girl that, at his direction, she was allowing herself to mature into. Anger gave way to confusion and a belief that she must have done something wrong, until one summer's day something happened that made her think about Julian differently.

She was eighteen when they had spent that really hot summer holiday at Finniston Farm.(1) She and Anne had caught the bus to meet the boys after their respective schools, and in Julian's case, university had broken up. She had been so excited to see Dick and Julian that, restraint forgotten, she had thrown herself into Julian's arms. Julian must have been taken by surprise, and having little alternative other than to push her away, in what have been an obvious rebuttal, he had held her closer and tighter than he had in years. The fluttery feeling had returned with force. Now, it wasn't just confined to her tummy. It radiated out reaching her knees making them feel wobbly, and into her heart, which started pounding as if she were in the midst of one of their thrilling adventures. The feeling surged deep between her legs making her hyper-aware that the seam of her shorts sat flush between the folds of her vulva. George shifted her stance slightly and the seam slid across that part of her that would never see her mistaken for a boy. The action sent a sharp jolt coursing through her, and she had to make a concerted effort to stop herself from rubbing against something to make it happen again. From rubbing herself against Julian!

To hold back the moan threatening to escape, George inhaled deeply and in doing so breathed down a lungful of Julian. The sharp tang of some unknown aftershave, soap and something that was just Julian, all combined to make his unique scent. It undulated through her head, resting on and claiming every memory she had of him. Never again would she be able to think of Julian, or recall something that they had done or said to each other, without remembering this feeling of being in his arms.

She clung to him, aware that their time was almost over. In just a couple more seconds, propriety would demand she let him go. He had filled out since their last holiday together. His body seemed harder, and for the first time she was grateful for the softness of her female body. It allowed her to mould herself to him. If I raise my head slightly, she thought, I could lick his neck, feel his stubble against my tongue. George didn't know how she had not moaned then. Swallowing hard, she had reluctantly loosened her hold on Julian and stepping back glanced shyly up. Would he know what had just happened to her? She’d half expected him to be horrified, disgusted, or angry even, but she noticed that if anything he looked even more shaken than she felt.

Before she could give the matter any thought, she was swept into a rib crushing hug by Dick. Dick held her just as close as Julian had, and yet with him there was nothing other than the pleasant sensation of being held.

 

 

55555

The encounter nagged at the back of George’s mind all day, whilst between her legs a dull heat had simmered. With considerable determination, she kept herself immersed in their holiday activities. The moment she relaxed, her mind insisted on replaying those few seconds spent in Julian's arms. If she looked at Julian for a little too long, or if her eyes had met his, the throb would surge through her with such force that it left her light-headed. Thank god for the heat she thought, feeling her face flushed with desire and embarrassment. At least I have an excuse for looking like a beetroot.

At last, night time came and George finally had some privacy in the pitch black. Reaching her fingers down under the waistband of her knickers, she discovered the reason for the slippy sensation that she had been feeling all day; her underwear was soaking. George slid her finger down and over the little bud that she had known was there, but had never before realised the purpose of. It was almost too sensitive against her fingertip, and she had to bite down hard on her lip to keep silent. Continuing down, following the trail of her juices to their source, she slid a finger inside. George knew the function of this place. This was where one day her husband would insert his penis. George had always considered the idea quite vile, why would anyone wish to do such a thing? But now as her middle finger pushed up into her tight wet heat, her thumb grazing the hood of the sensitive bundle of nerves, she understood. She thought of Julian. Would he like to touch a girl there? Would he like to push himself inside a girl? Would he move, sliding himself up and down, in and out? Would he ever consider doing that with her?

George’s hand quickened, her sex knew what it wanted, and it seemed to instruct her fingers directly. No longer was she disgusted by the thought, certainly not if it were Julian above her, making her come apart with this thrusting friction.

The sensations intensified and she came suddenly, not having sufficient knowledge of her body to prolong it. A feeling of pure ecstasy swept through her and she squeezed the muscles of her legs and toes so tightly as she rode it, that when it was over she could not immediately remember how to relax them.

The intense desire of earlier was gone now but was immediately replaced by a sense of emptiness. She had obtained some gratification, but instinctively knew that she would never achieve complete satisfaction by her own hand.

George had no experience with boys. She had no idea what to look for to determine whether a boy liked a girl. Could Julian like her? Had their embrace affected him as it had done her? If he had started to notice her, as a girl of the non-sister variety, it would explain his change in behaviour. Having experienced desire for him, George knew that _she_ would not have been able to have maintained any sense of normality if she were to allow unnecessary physical contact with Julian to continue. She had no idea how she could even look him in the eye after what she had just done to the fantasy of him.

George tried to settle down to sleep. Julian was a man of moral fibre. If he did have non-platonic feelings for her then surely when they were of an age, he would do the right thing by them both. He would declare his feelings and they would marry. She just needed to be patient. It would be rather perfect actually, she mused. Whilst the emerging middle classes raised objections to cousins marrying, the Kirrins were an old upper-class family. Like the aristocracy, who considered cousins marrying the ideal way to keep estates and titles intact, their family would approve of the match.

With this in mind, Gina had subsequently allowed herself to be led by Julian. Of course, there were still moments of rebellion. She was after all, still quite the tom boy, and somewhat stubborn. And then came 'The Season' – the dresses, the balls, the tedium, during which Julian had never once accompanied them, never once held her in is arms to dance, never told her that he was proud of her or that he wanted her for himself.

 

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And then Timmy…

 

Footnotes

1 – Five on Finniston Farm                                                                                      


	9. Chapter 9 Gina goes to Kirrin Island again

Chapter 9 - Gina goes to Kirrin Island again

At the sound of the front door opening, Gina turned, and seeing Anne, did her best to give her a smile.

'You're admiring Julian's handiwork I see,' Anne said.

'Julian's? I thought that you carved this.'

Anne laughed. 'Me? Gosh no. My attempts at woodwork were pitiful. Don't you remember that test-tube rack that I made for Uncle Quentin a few years ago?'

'Father loved that rack. Said it was the best present he had ever been given.'

'Yes, well, he's a practical man, but you have to admit that it wasn't the prettiest thing. I only took up woodwork because Julian did it. He was way out my league, well you can see for yourself,' Anne gestured towards the carved Timmy. 'Still, it was nice to have something in common with him, something that we could write to each other about during school. Anyway, I've been sent to fetch you, dinner's ready.'

'Coming,' Gina said, getting to her feet. 'The carving _is_ exquisite, It must have taken him ages.'

'He did it right after you left, he thought you'd come back after a few days you see, once you'd calmed down, and he wanted it to be finished for when you did. He was like a man possessed, Aunt Fanny had to force him to stop carving at meal times. I know I've never said anything before because I love you and I knew how much you were hurting, but Julian was hurting too. We all were, Timmy was one of us, we weren't even the Famous Five anymore without him. Julian was just as devastated as Dick and I were about Timmy, but he lost you too. I've never seen him so upset, not when he and Annabella broke up, not even earlier today when he found out about my situation. When you didn't come back, well, I was worried that he might do something, you know, something silly.'

Gina remained silent. What could she say? Anne had just added further reason for her to question the validity of her immediate reaction to Timmy's death. She had never considered it from Julian's point of view. She had always resented that he had not allowed her to be there for Timmy. That she had not been the one to comfort him, as he drew his last breath, but she also knew that she would have been distraught doing it. Julian had gone through that alone. He had made a decision not to wait for her, not to leave Timmy in pain for hours whilst she'd travelled home, and she had hated him for it! God I’m so confused, she thought.                                                                   

              

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Despite the informal setting, when the girls entered the dining room, Julian and Dick rose to meet them, and to escort them to the table. Gina was relieved that Dick reached her first; tucking her arm into his, he leaned down and whispered,

'Are you okay?'

She nodded, 'I'm fine. How about you?'

'Well, he hasn't threatened to kill me this time, so things may be looking up,' Dick's tone was flippant, but Gina heard the pain beneath the words.

'I'm so sorry. I should have dealt with it by myself.'

'Don't be silly,' he said, dropping a kiss onto the top of her head as she sat down. 'Of course you were right to come to me.'

'But look what it did to the pair of you. We should have handled it differently.'

'Perhaps, but it was effective and time was against us. They were about to announce their engagement in _The Times_.(1) Best not to dwell on it,' and with that Dick sat down in the chair next to hers.

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Gina's relief at not having to sit next to Julian was short lived. Having seated Anne and her mother, he took his place in the chair opposite hers. He would be in her line of sight every time she looked up from her plate. Thankfully, Dick's afternoon gossiping with Beryl, who still ran the Harbour Café, had yielded some information, so everyone's attention was on him.

'And this woman who was staying at Kirrin Farm asked Beryl about us too apparently. Said that she remembered a bunch of kids from Kirrin, who were constantly in the papers a few years ago. Well, Beryl didn't see any harm in telling her about us. She told her that Anne was currently staying at Kirrin Cottage but that she hadn't seen "George" in years.' He grinned at Gina, 'I bet she'll have a right shock when she sees you.'

'Perhaps you could visit Kirrin Farm tomorrow,' her mother said.

'Well, Aunt Fanny, I thought that it might actually be a good idea if we tried to retrace Uncle Quentin's steps. What do you all think?' Dick asked. Anne looked pink with excitement, which Gina thought was funny since Anne had never really enjoyed their adventures. Julian looked impressed by the idea, but then she supposed that men like Julian were happy to let others have the good ideas, as long as he could claim the credit later. She immediately chided herself for such a thought. Yes, Julian had always been overbearing and controlling, but he had always given credit where it was due. Her mother looked relieved, the helplessness of just sitting around and waiting for the kidnappers to get in touch was starting to get to her.

'That sounds like a fabulous idea, Dick. I’ll arrange a packed lunch for you to take. I have all your old favourites that you always had when you were children: eggs, ham, salad, pies and of course ginger beer.'

'Aunt Fanny, if it were not for this delicious meal in front of us, I swear, my tummy would be growling at the thought,' Dick said, and everybody laughed.

'You'd better watch it,' Gina told him, giving his belly a playful poke. 'I see it all the time, men who think that they can carry on eating the same as when they were children. They don’t realise that sitting behind their desks all day is less forgiving than running around and climbing trees.'

'Well, being a reporter has its share of sitting behind a typewriter, but I do spend quite a lot of time on my feet too. Not to the same extent as Julian of course, but then you can tell just by looking at him that his lifestyle must be very physical.'

Gina gave her plate her full attention, hoping that the heat that had rushed to her face had not manifested as a blush. She had noticed Julian's physique, both in the way his clothes clung in all the right places, and of course, she had hands on experience of how the firm his chest was.

Why is it that you're so well-muscled, Julian?' Anne asked.

'I can't go into detail because much of my work is classified, but I don't spend all my time at a desk. This doesn't leave this room, but some of my field work can be dangerous and it demands a high level of physical fitness.'

Gina looked up then, and her gaze was pulled to his by a tension that seemed to be winding ever tighter, now that she was losing the safety net that hating him had provided.

'Well, that's lucky isn't it?' Gina said, 'You can carry that massive picnic that Mother is going to pack for us.' Everyone laughed, and Julian smiled at her. Gina felt as if every drop of her blood fizzed. She panicked, she needed to get away from here. Her chair scraped as she got to her feet, commanding everyone’s attention. 'Look, I'm sorry but I can't do this. I can't run around Kirrin playing detective. I've got a life back in London. I'm sorry about Father, truly Mother, I am, but you're all going to have to have this adventure without me. I can't pretend that the last few years didn't happen and go poking around on the Common looking for clues. I'm sorry, I know you had your heart set on us all getting back together and having an adventure, Anne, but it isn't going to happen. I'm catching a train back to London, back _home_ , tomorrow morning.' With that, Gina left the room and was out of the front door before anyone could stop her.

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She ran. Julian wasn't the only one whose lifestyle required physical fitness, and Gina could jog for miles. Too soon, she was forced to stop by there being no more land to jog on - she had reached the water's edge. It was still early evening and the weather was fine so the visibility afforded her a clear view of her island and the outline of the ruined castle. It had been over three years since she had set foot on Kirrin Island, and she supposed that her boat was gone. Striding back up the beach to the boat hut, she stepped inside. Gina gasped in delight, her boat: _The Adventurer_ was still here. Careful examination determined that she was in good condition. It even looked like she’d had a fresh coat of yacht varnish in the last six months. With her childish impulsiveness overriding her adult common-sense, Gina dragged her boat out of the shed, down the beach and into the sea.

 

1-      _The Times_ , British broadsheet newspaper. Considered a paragon of truth, announcing something in _The Times_ was akin to carving it in stone.


	10. Chapter 10 Sheltering from the storm

Chapter 10 Sheltering from the storm

The rhythm of the oars was soothing. It was a technique that you never forget, Gina thought as she raced across the open water towards her island. To stay on course, her eyes sought out the unchanged landscape of the diminishing coastline. The wind got stronger the further out she got, and it drove the refreshing salty spray up into her face.

            Arriving at the razor sharp rocks surrounding Kirrin Island, Gina scooted over to the other side of the boat. It was much harder to row forwards, but it had been too long since she had navigated these treacherous rocks, for her to attempt to do so backwards.

            'Easy,' she told the rabbits that had watched her arrival at the sandy cove on the east side of the island, as she dragged her boat up beyond the high tide mark.

            Kirrin Castle looked much the same as she remembered, a few more fallen stones at the base of its two towers, the only witness to the passage of time. She didn't go inside though, it was dark and she hadn't brought the torch from her boat’s ditch-kit. Instead, she decided to go for a walk around the island. Rounding the side of the castle, she spotted something rising up out of the grass. She thought at first that it was another rabbit but as she got closer, she saw that it was some wood. A few steps closer – it was wood that had been treated and carved. Closer still and she saw that it was a wooden headstone that, like the ash stump, had been decorated with an intricate carving of Timmy.

            In her vilification of him, Gina had assumed that Julian had left Timmy with the vet to be incinerated. This evidence suggested that Julian had, in fact, rowed over here with Timmy, buried him and spent what must have been days carving out a headstone. The wood had been varnished recently to protect it against the abrasive salt that flavoured the Kirrin air. Just like my boat has been, she realised. Loathing herself as she did so, Gina started to sob as she lay down in the grass atop Timmy's resting place.

 

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The slam of the front door informed the others that Gina had left the house. They saw her run past the window at an impressive speed. Julian knew that he alone would be able to catch up with her. He rose to his feet.

            'I'll go after her.'

            Aunt Fanny caught hold of his arm. 'Let her go, she needs a bit of time to settle down. She'll come back when she's ready.'

 

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Half an hour later and Aunt Fanny was calling down the stairs in a panic. The three of them rushed up to find their aunt in her bedroom looking out of the window.          

            'What's wrong?' Anne asked, rushing over to comfort her.

            'Look.'

            They crowded around the window where they saw a tiny boat heading towards Kirrin Island carrying a lone rower.

            Is that?' Dick asked.

            ' _The Adventurer_ ,' Julian confirmed.

            'Oh, the silly girl. What does she think she's doing going out there?' Aunt Fanny said.

            'She'll be fine,' Dick said, 'Gina's always been a great sailor. A quick trip to Kirrin Island and back is hardly a problem for her.'

            Julian put an arm around his aunt. He didn't share Dick's confidence. He doubted that Gina had done much sailing in the last few years, and despite her obvious high level of fitness, rowing used a specific set of muscles. Besides:

            'Are those storm clouds?' he asked, pointing to a hazy patch of sky just visible at the opposite side of the viewable horizon from Kirrin Island.

            Aunt Fanny nodded. 'It said on the radio this morning that we could expect heavy rain later on this evening. If Gina spends anything more than a few minutes on the island before heading back, she'll get caught in the storm. Oh Julian,' she clutched his arm. 'What if the storm comes on whilst she's on her way back.'

            Julian patted her arm reassuringly, 'she'll spot the clouds and not set out. Still, the ditch-kit is only equipped with the basics. It won’t be a comfortable night for her. By the look of it, we still have at least an hour before that storm hits. I'll borrow a boat and row out to the island with some supplies. We'll wait out the storm and come home in the morning.'

            'I'll come with you,' said Dick.

            'Better not, it will be quicker to grab enough things just for two, and I'll be able to row quicker with a lighter boat. If you want to help, run around to Alf's (1) house and let him know that I'm borrowing his boat, would you? I'll signal with the torch when I arrive at the island, so you could keep a look out for that too. '

 

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Julian threw changes of clothes for himself and Gina into a bag along with some food, water and a bottle of very expensive brandy that Aunt Fanny retrieved from his uncle's study - to ward off the cold, she had told him. He knew that he had other basic supplies in the airtight lock-box in the cave on the island, so he could travel light.

            Alf was already waiting for him when he arrived at the harbour. He had readied the boat and was stood by the jetty.

            'Miss George, gone off for a little adventure then Master Julian?' The wind had already started to pick up, and Alf had to raise his voice as it blew the sound away. 'I've put yer some firewood under the tarp, should do yer till mornin' if yer careful wi it.'

            'Thanks, Alf. I owe you one,' Julian stowed his bags under the tarpaulin with the wood and jumped in.

 

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Unlike Gina, Julian was used to rowing. He frequently had to do it in his job, and as Gina had rightly deduced, he visited Kirrin Island every few months to treat Timmy's grave, and to cull the rabbit population, that with no predators to keep their numbers in check, would otherwise multiply exponentially.

The sea was choppy now, and Julian had to row hard to keep the boat on course. Luckily, as he approached the east side of the island, the rocks themselves afforded some shelter from the worsening weather. The rocks around Kirrin Island had claimed many ships in years past, and as fat raindrops began to fall, Julian had to concentrate hard on the single safe route through the island's teeth.

 

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Having cried herself to sleep, Gina woke when the first dollop of rain splashed on her cheek.

            'Oh hell,' she said as she jumped to her feet and took note of the dramatic change in the weather. 'I can't row home in this.' Through the gaps in the wind, Gina heard the waves crashing around the shore and realised that, in this storm, her boat was not safe where she had left it. Hurrying back to the cove, she seized the bow and dragged it as high up the beach as she could. As she slung the ditch-kit over her shoulder, she happened to glance down the beach in time to see another boat land. A person wearing a full set of Grundéns(2) jumped out and began pulling it up the beach towards her. Visibility was poor through the now torrential rain, but as the figure got closer, it looked straight up at her, and she saw that it was Julian. Instinctively, she ran down the beach, grabbed hold of his boat which was bigger than hers, and considerably heavier, and helped him to haul it up the beach to where hers was moored.

            'Leave it!' Julian shouted above the howl, indicating her ditch-kit. 'Here, take this instead,' he removed a torch from the bag before handing the bag to her, while he retrieved the heavier and the more cumbersome bundle of firewood. 'We need to get to the cave, but I need to signal to the others first to let them know that I've arrived safely.' Having made a few flashes, they set off at a brisk pace. It was getting darker by the second, and they stopped briefly while Julian retrieved a second torch, for her, from the bag. Careful to avoid the many rabbit holes, they reached the skylight of the cave. Julian pushed back the bush that covered the entrance; reaching down, he drew up the few feet of rope that was secured to it. He examined the integrity of the knot and the rope itself, and finding it satisfactory, he dropped both their loads through. With his torch, he performed a sweeping examination of the interior of the cave, before allowing Gina to precede him down the rope.

Touching down on the sandy floor of the cave, Julian turned to find Gina watching him. Prepared for another confrontation, he was surprised when she gave him a shy smile.

            'Thank you for coming over. Whilst the self-inflating dingy would be very useful if the boat got a leak, I'm not sure how much use it would be for a night on the island,' she paused and nibbled at her bottom lip in a manner that Julian found entrancing. 'I expect you're going to tear a strip off me for coming over here?'

            Julian considered her words. She was right, he should be angry with her, but he wasn't. 'I'm just relieved that you're okay,' he told her.

            'And why wouldn't I be?' she demanded.

            'Let's not fight over this, please. For the last few minutes of the journey, I was battling a strong wind and frankly I'm exhausted. I didn't mean to question your seafaring prowess, I just knew that the ditch-kit was not well equipped on account of having packed it myself. I knew that there was time to get over here before the storm hit so I came.

‘Look at you, you're shivering. I'll get a fire going by the cave entrance. There’s a change of clothes for you in the bag. Have a couple of mouthfuls of the brandy too, it’ll help warm you.'

            Turning away from her, he grabbed the firewood and heading over to the cave entrance, he began sorting the wood into separate piles of tinder, kindling and fuel. In addition to the wood that Alf had given him, he already had some stored in the cave. Therefore, he had enough to construct a substantial pyramid fire that, once going, would be maintenance free until morning. He began building, trying not to think about the woman who he had been in love with since he was fourteen, removing her clothes just a few feet behind him.

           

 

Footnotes

1 – Alf, the fisher boy named in the early Famous Five books as having looked after Timmy when Uncle Quentin refused to allow George to keep him at the house. Enid had a tendency to forget the names of her incidental characters as time went on. Timmy's keeper, in the later books, is referred to as Jim.

2 – Grundéns, waterproof overalls worn by sailors and fishermen.  


	11. Chapter 11  The Kidnappers

Chapter 11 - The Kidnappers

'It's me, open ter door.'

'Are you sure that you weren't followed.'

'I've learnt how to keep me 'ead down over years. I've not been seen. The dark 'aired one came in ter cafe today.'

'Dick?'

'It was 'im alright, askin' all sorts a questions, he was. The manager told 'im about _you_ askin' about _them_.'

'Good, I was depending on them having not lost their taste for adventure. Are the others here yet?'

'Dunno about the girl, but the blond'n, Julian's 'ere.'

'Good work, we need to make sure that they're all here though before we proceed. Go back and wait until you catch sight of Georgina.'

'She always 'ated that name, though she were none too keen on "Georgie Porgie" either.'

'You are absolutely certain that the men you saw were Julian and Dick Kirrin?'

'Positive, yer don't tend te forget the people that put yer pa back in jail. I'll be off then. I'll let yer know when I've any more news.'

 

55555

 

'Do you think we can trust him?'

'He hates the Kirrins, that must count for something.'

'Not very clever though, what if one of them see him. They might recognise him.'

'It doesn't matter if they do. As long as they don’t apprehend him, it will just convince them that he has something to do with the scientist's disappearance.'

'But he does have something to do with it, what if they do manage to get hold of him.'

'Won’t matter since he doesn't know anything of significance… What about Kirrin Senior? You have fed him today haven't you?'

'Yes, but I fail to see why we should. They'll still come whether he is alive or dead.'

'True, but effectively disposing of a body is not easy and I for one do not want to have to live with a rotting corpse. Surely your nostrils have been subjected to the smell of putrid human sufficiently of late.'

'True.'

'Besides, alive we can sell him to a foreign government, once we are all done.'

 

           


	12. Chapter 12 Tell Me

Chapter 12 Tell me

Gina stripped down to her bra and knickers, before hastily donning the trousers and sweater that Julian had brought for her. A lot of men had seen her in her underwear, but she had never felt as self-conscious as she did at that moment. Julian was the perfect gentleman and kept his back to her at all times, but still. It skirted so close to fantasies that she'd had about him that she felt in danger of inadvertently acting on them. Although, she thought, that would be one way of ensuring he never came near her again.

            Taking the brandy with her, she headed over to the cave entrance where Julian was about to add the lit tinder to the kindling.

            'I can't remember the last time I had a camp fire,' she said. 'Can I help with anything?'

            'There's a chest hidden amongst the rocks over in the corner. The key is in the pocket in the bag. There are blankets, a stove, kettle and some canned food and drink, if you don't mind getting them.'

            She retrieved the key and headed over to where Julian had indicated. The chest was large and the lid difficult to open on account of the tight moisture proof lining. Finding the supplies that Julian had mentioned, plus a small battery operated wireless, she headed back to the soft sandy floor on the other side of the cave. This was where they had always slept. The reality of her situation hit her. She was going to spend the night in the cave, with a man that until earlier today, she had hated for the last three years. A hatred that had not managed to suppress the fact that she had been in love with him since she was eighteen. Had she confided in Dick about Annabella because she loved Julian, or in spite of it? At the time she had convinced herself that it was her duty to do so, and if Julian had got hurt in the process, all the better. From her recent introspection, she had to admit, if only to herself, that she hadn't wanted Julian to marry anyone. If anything, she had been lucky that it _had_ been Annabella and that Dick had agreed that their relationship needed to be sabotaged at all costs. Forcing herself to stop dwelling on the past, Gina returned to her present dilemma: how far apart to set up their beds.

 

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She settled on leaving the blankets folded in two piles about four feet apart, and put a kettle of water on the stove to boil. She sorted through the supplies and switched on the wireless, hoping that some music would mask the noise of the wind, which fluted across the skylight of the cave with an eerie whistle. Having prepared a light supper for them both, she returned to Julian and the warmth of the fire. He looked up as she handed him a mug and plate.

'You're well stocked, you spend a lot of time here,' she said.

            'Yes, I find it… Comforting to come here.'

            'Oh.' An unpleasant thought occurred to her. 'Have you ever brought anyone else here?'

            'No, I wouldn't want anyone else here apart from the five of us. Nowadays, I find myself as possessive of Kirrin Island as you always were.'

            They ate in silence for a while before Julian reached for his drink. He looked up at her, the firelight dancing in his brown eyes reminding her again of molten chocolate.

            'You chose the Ovaltine, I'm not sure whether to be flattered or insulted.'

            Gina laughed, 'Well, I have a cup every night before bed actually. I don't own any slippers though.'

            Julian sipped his drink, his face unreadable. 'The man who answered the door at the club this morning, Terry isn't it? I asked him if he was your fiancé.'

            'You didn't?' Gina said, spluttering into her drink. 'He never mentioned that when I telephoned him earlier. Poor Terry, I bet he didn't know where to put himself.'

            'It was a logical mistake to make. You'd looked jolly intimate the night before, and he was at your home first thing in the morning wearing pyjamas.'

            'I have a confession to make. I moved out of the flat above the club a couple of weeks ago, and Terry's having his flat decorated so he’s staying there temporarily,' Gina's eyes met his. 'Besides even if Terry and I did share the flat, I'm not his type,' and feeling mischievous she added, 'he thinks _you_ ' _re_ gorgeous though.'

            'Oh,' and Julian's eyes widened slightly. 'Oh, he's?'

            'Yes. It's one of the reasons why our club is so successful actually. Our staff all love working for Terry because unlike most clubs of that nature, they don't get groped by the management.'

            They fell into a heavy silence again. One which Gina felt compelled to fill. Before she'd had a chance to think of the implications, she blurted out,

            'The carvings of Timmy here and at the cottage are beautiful, they must have taken you ages?'

            'It was the least I could do,' Julian looked uncomfortable. 'I didn't do an inscription at the time because I didn't think that it was my place to. If you want me to add one, I can.'

            'I'll have a think about it,' she replied. Timmy was like an elephant in the cave. She hadn't wanted to talk about him, but had been unable to stop herself.

            'This must be hell for you, ' Julian said, his voice flat. 'Dick wanted to come over you know, but he was never as good a rower as you or I. I realise that you'd have preferred his company to mine.'

            She pondered for a moment. 'It would have been easier,' she stated. Her and Dick would have had a rip-roaring time, knocking back the brandy. They would have reached a point where they might have become a little melancholy, but there would not have been this tension that filled the cave now. She wouldn't have that throbbing sensation between her legs that she got in Julian's presence.

            'You must really hate me.'                  

            'I don't hate you,' Gina said, so quickly that she surprised herself. 'I mean, I did, or I thought I did, but now? You hurt me Julian, I couldn't stand to even think about you. I ran away, but every happy memory that I ever had, you were wrapped up in it. And then you came to the club and I just wanted to lash out at you. But then once I came home and you came, god I don't even understand it, but everything felt better again.'

            'What exactly is your game, Gina? You surely don't expect me to believe that in the space of a day you stopped hating me? We are here because you hate me because you couldn't face the thought of staying in Kirrin because of me because you jumped in a bloody boat and got stranded here in a storm, all to get away from me.'

            Gina felt her quick temper flare. 'Well, it's a pity didn't take the hint then, instead of following me over here then, isn't it?'

            During their altercation, they had both stood, and were now squaring up, eyes glaring at each other. Gina became aware of her breasts which throbbed, mere inches from Julian's chest. She could feel the masculinity rolling out of him, along with his anger. Her femininity was reacting to it and was threatening total revolt. Any second now, her body would fling itself at Julian's. She backed away, broke his gaze and attempted to regain her composure.

            'I needed to hate you, Julian. In my mind, I painted you as the villain, but once I saw you again, you were just Julian, my Julian, who’d believed that he’d acted in the best interests of Timmy. How could I go on hating you? How could I carry on, when I know that, in my grief, I might have made the wrong decision about what was best for Timmy? I ran away tonight because I _don't_ hate you, and without that I don't know how to feel about you or myself anymore.' Gina's voice dipped to almost a whisper, 'three years, and all that time if I'd have just come back, if I'd just seen you, it would have all been over. I'm such a coward.' She was no longer able to hold back her tears, 'I forgive you, Julian, do you think that you could forgive me?'

            'No!' You can't forgive me, you mustn't,' he seemed frantic. 'There's more, more than what you think you know.' He took hold of her upper arms, so roughly that it almost hurt. She gasped as her hands, of their own volition, came to rest around his waist. They stared at each other; the waves crashing against the rocks outside, the only indication that they were not frozen in time. A piece of wood exploded releasing a fountain of sparks, and Julian pulled her away from the fiery cascade before releasing her.

            Recalling what he had just said, Gina folded her arms as if to prevent them reaching for him again, 'What do you mean, there are things I don't know?'

            'You have no idea how much I crave your forgiveness, but I can never ask for it unless you know everything.'

            Gina sat back down, swallowed a mouthful of the brandy then offered the bottle to Julian. 'Tell me,’ she said.

            He looked into her, in that way that he had that made her want to squirm. Taking hold of the bottle, he nodding and sat down opposite her.

            'It didn't start the day that Timmy died. It started much sooner than that. It started the weekend that you and Anne went to London to buy your gowns for your presentation at court.'        


	13. Chapter 13 Truth

Chapter 13  - Truth

Julian could not believe what she was saying. She forgave him? For the briefest of moments, he knew pure happiness before the realism of the situation hit him. As far as Gina was concerned, having Timmy put to sleep had the beginning of his betrayal, but by that time, he had already been lying to her for months. He could not let her forgive him when she did not know what she was forgiving him for.

            'No!' You can't forgive me, you mustn't. 'There's more, more than what you think you know.' He took hold of her upper arms as if to physically assert his words. She gasped and to his surprise rested her hands around his waist. To an observer they would have looked like lovers. They stood frozen, and Julian realised that he could just lean in and kiss her. A piece of wood in the fire cracked open, peppering sparks in their direction. He pulled her out of harm's way before letting go of her arms.

            She stepped away from him now and crossed her arms across her chest, creating a barrier between them.

            'What do you mean, there are things I don't know?'

            'You have no idea how much I crave your forgiveness, but I can never ask for it unless you know everything,' he said.

            Gina sat down and took a large gulp of the brandy before offering him the bottle. 

            'Tell me,' she said. It was neither a command or a plea, but Julian was powerless to resist.

            He looked into Gina’s eyes. If she were to hate him again, he wanted one last memory of her like this. Then taking the bottle from her, he sat.

           

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'It didn't start the day that Timmy died. It started much sooner than that. It started that weekend that you and Anne went to London to buy your gowns for your presentation at court.

            'You hadn't wanted to go. The whole thing was a waste of time you said, but in particular you hadn't wanted to go away that weekend. Do you remember why?'

            'Yes, Timmy had been poorly and I wanted to take him to the vet. You said that you'd take him for me, so I had to give in and go to London. You told me, when I got home, that everything was fine, that the vet had said that Timmy must have eaten something that had made him sick.'

            'Yes, that's what I told you, because that's what the vet said to me at the time, although his exact words were: "probably have eaten something." He said that wanted to run a few tests though, so he took some samples.'

            'You never told me any of this at the time.'

            'No, well the vet didn't give me any reason to think that there may have been anything wrong. It was just a precaution in a dog Timmy's age.'

            'There was something though wasn't there?'

            Julian nodded, 'he telephoned a couple of weeks later asked me to go in to see him.'

            Gina had become pale and her voice shuck as she asked, 'What was it?'

            Julian reached over and took hold of one of her hands in his, 'Cancer, early stages, but highly aggressive.' Taking encouragement from the fact that she had not snatched her hand from his, he continued, 'I spoke to your father and he’d heard about a new drug that was in at the mammal testing stage. He pulled a few strings within the scientific community and we arranged for the vet to get a license to run a trial on Timmy. I took him to the vet's each weekend for the treatment and it looked really positive at first. Your father and the vet were hopeful that Timmy would make a full recovery. Then after a while, the cancer started to counter the effects that the drug had been having, and I knew that I’d have to tell you what had been going on. I'd planned to tell you when you got home after that weekend, but Timmy got hit by a car before I could. With his immune system compromised by the cancer and the drug, there was no way that Timmy would have survived the surgery that might have saved him. So I let the vet put him to sleep.'

            Gina's face glistened with silent tears as she remove her hand from Julian's hold. Getting to her feet she seemed to need to put some distance between herself and him. Julian watched as she moved over to the ledge on which several candles flickered, seemingly in time to the music coming from the wireless. He sat, quietly waiting, knowing that he deserved whatever accusation she may throw at him. When she eventually spoke it was so soft that he struggled to hear.

            'Why, Julian? Why could you not just tell me the truth? If not straight away, then after Timmy had died?'

            'Because I'm a pompous ass who always thought he knew better than everyone else. Always thought that it was his job to plan everything for everyone, whether they wanted me to or not. It was for their own good after all, who could possibly know better than the saintly Julian?' His jaw was set so tightly that pain shot up through his sinuses.            'But why did you have to be that way? My god, have you any idea how much I craved your approval, how praise from you was worth more than from my parents, my teachers, from anyone else? The way you treated me sometimes Julian, it made me feel so inferior. I would dig my nails into my palms every time you put me down, every time you told me I was a girl and should act like it. Like I should know my place and be ashamed of myself for aspiring to anything better. And do you know what?' her voice had risen and she was shouting now. 'I was ashamed, ashamed of never living up to your impossible standards. I was a tomboy and you treated me with contempt. I made a concerted effort to be a little more ladylike and you treated me like a simpleton. What gave you the right to treat me that way, Julian?'

            'Nothing gave me the right! I just did it because I felt that it was expected of me!' He ran his hands through his hair and growled in frustration. Gina said nothing but he could feel her eyes upon him, waiting. 'I envied you, did you know that? When we first met I mean. Anne, Dick and I were all born just a year apart, I never knew what it was like to be anything other than the eldest son. For as long as I can remember it was drummed into me that it was my job to look after my siblings, and they were taught to look to me to lead them. I was little more than a toddler myself, but Father held me to a higher standard than the others. Leadership qualities, he'd say. Britain is built on the shoulders of men like us, your brother can follow his heart through life just like my brother still does, but it's men like us, Son, that keep it "Great Britain." Then we came to Kirrin for the summer and I met you.

            'You were like no one I had ever met before. You were rude and ill-mannered, but you were your own person, I envied you that freedom, to look at what you were and just recreate yourself as the person that you wanted to be. You seemed so much more vibrant than Anne or Dick were, and when I think back to the first summer together, here on Kirrin Island, it was your company that I craved not theirs. Everything was about you. You were a girl, but you swam better than me, rowed better than me, and I didn't care. I thought you were amazing and it was such a relief to be able to accede to your superior knowledge. 

            'When we went back home after that summer, Father saw the change in me immediately. When I questioned my upbringing and my "role" he was furious gave me a real thrashing. If you think your father has a temper, well, he learnt it from his brother. Father wanted to make sure that I would always remember my place in the world.

            'I wasn't strong enough back then to go against my conditioning, so making the decisions about Timmy was natural for me. That time with Timmy made me take a look at the man that I was becoming and I didn't like him one bit. I watched you, Anne and Dick catching the train each weekend, going to parties and polo matches without me, and I understood that I was being punished for how I was behaving.' He looked at Gina captivated, by the way that the flickering candles made her crystalline eyes reflect the light, like sunbeams on frost.

            'I missed every party, I never got to see you in any of those beautiful dresses, or be photographed with you, or dance with you…' he trailed off, afraid that he had said too much. Gina's eyes had not left his the entire time, and he felt he might drown in those brilliant blue whirlpools. She closed the gap and stood before him. Her breathing seemed slightly laboured, as was his own, both were audible over the music from the wireless. Her hands shuck, he noticed, as she placed her left at his waist, and took hold of his left hand in her right. Sliding her left hand further around his back, she pressed her body against his,

            'Dance with me now,' she said, her voice low.

            He led, and they waltzed slowly around the cave. Simple steps, because the only thing that he wanted to have to concentrate on, was her body pressed against his, her head resting against his shoulder as if it belonged there. They danced through the news and the national anthem, only stopping when the wireless began emitting static. He was so hard now that he felt light-headed, and he carefully held his lower body away from hers, so that she would not feel it. He released her, and away from her embrace, he felt cold. Perhaps she felt the same because she wrapped her arms around herself as if to hold the heat inside.

            It's late,' he said with a calmness that he didn't feel, whilst switching off the wireless. 'We should get some sleep and hopefully the storm will have blown itself out and we can head back first thing in the morning.'

            'Okay,' was he imagining it or had her voice taken on a slight sulky tone?

            Neither of them removed any clothing before wrapping themselves tightly in their blankets and lying facing away from each other in the soft sand. Julian's erection pressed painfully against his jeans, but there would be no chance of release tonight. He lay there thinking of unpleasant things to try and chase it away. Just as he seemed to be succeeding he heard Gina clear her throat,

            'I still forgive you, Julian, and I was wrong earlier. I wouldn't have preferred to have spent this evening with Dick... Good night, Julian.' 

            'Good night, Gina.'

 

 

 


	14. Chapter 14 The Morning After

Chapter 14 The Morning After

 

Knowing that she could reach out a hand and touch Julian as he slept, prevented Gina from relaxing sufficiently to fall asleep. Her mind was busy processing the events of the last twenty-four hours. Her eighteen-year-old self had stepped out of that fateful embrace with Julian, looked into his eyes and not understood what she had seen looking back at her. Certainly, she had wondered, but with her limited exposure to boys, and how they behaved around the opposite sex, she’d had nothing to compare it to.

            Tonight, when her dance with Julian had ended, she had looked up into his eyes and had seen desire and something more looking back at her. He’d soon regained his composure, but she had seen it. Julian was in love with her. How long for? Gina wondered. She searched her memory, trying to identify exactly when he had started behaving differently towards her. At Finniston Farm (1), which had been her own awakening, he had already been standoffish with her. Similarly, the year before at Billycock Hill (2), and the year before that at Mystery Moor (3). Another year and the spook trains (4). Then there was that caravan holiday around the lake that she couldn't remember the name of (5), then Smugglers’ Top (6). Gina remembered that at Smugglers’ Top he had still been happy to look her in the eye and to treat her like a boy. So it must have been the caravan holiday. Sometime around then, Julian fell in love with me. It made sense now, it was no wonder that he had started to act differently towards me at about that time. I started acting differently too, once I realised that I loved him.

            That thought brought Gina’s brain screeching to a stop. I'm in love with Julian and he's in love with me. Oh hell! What am I going to do? Just like he couldn't not tell her the whole story about Timmy, how could she say anything to him while things were the way they were between him and Dick? But how can I ever tell him about that? Gina imagined the conversation in her head - Oh guess what Julian, you know when you walked in on your brother having sex with you fiancée? You're going to find this a total blast, but it was all staged by Dick and I specifically to prevent your marriage to her. Dick's a fruit, oh and by the way I'm in love with you. Gina groaned, and Julian murmured in his sleep something that sounded awfully like 'Gina.'

            She closed her eyes and eventually sleep claimed her.

 

55555

 

When Gina awoke, sunlight was streaming through the cave, the fire had burned down to cinders and she was alone. She could hear the sound of the sea breaking gently now, and the Jackdaws in the castle towers cawing good morning to each other. Stretching, she got up and left the cave by its rocky exit. Finding a pool of fresh rainwater courtesy of last night's storm, she took the opportunity to freshen up. Returning inside, she was in time to see Julian begin his descent from the skylight entrance.

            'Good morning,' she said, with a cheerfulness that she hoped hid her unease.

            'Good morning,' he replied. He too seemed stilted.

            Great, We get over the whole hate thing, and we still are not going to be able to stand being around each other. Unrequited love, is much better, because knowing that you love somebody and that they love you, but you still can't be together is enough to drive a person insane, she decided.

            'The weather looks fine and the sea's calm again. Shall we have some breakfast before setting off?' she asked.

            'If you like, I've just been to check on the boats. They’re both fine. There should be some tinned kippers in the chest, and I brought fresh bread with me last night.'

            'I'll do that then, would you prefer coffee or hot chocolate?'

            'Coffee, but I'll prepare our breakfast if you wouldn't mind dousing the remains of the fire.'

            Gina looked at him surprised. For most of their teenage years, Julian had asserted that as a girl, the food preparation was her job, but here he was, willing to assume that role, whilst allowing her to perform the more manly job.

            He shrugged at the unasked question. 'You cooked last night, it's only fair.'

            'Julian, what was the name of that lake that we caravanned around, the summer that you'd have been fourteen?' Julian's eyes, she noted, widened at her question, and she congratulated herself. By that subtle tell, she knew that she had been correct in her deduction. The lake had been significant.

            'It was called Lake Merran,'

55555

 

They tied her boat to Alf's larger one and set off together. Once passed the rocks, Julian stopped rowing.

            'Fancy taking an oar?' he asked.

            Gina didn't need asking twice. 'You know I have a machine at home that replicates the action of rowing. It's nowhere near as much fun as the real thing of course, but I always close my eyes and imagine I'm out on the open water.'

            Julian laughed. 'So that's why you've still got all you rower’s stamina. I did wonder.'

            The laughed together as they adjusted their individual styles to complement each other, and Gina felt some of the new tension between them begin to fade. Being with Julian, even as just a friend and cousin was surely better than nothing, she thought. Besides, she was enjoying the innocent contact of sitting beside him, matching her strokes to his.

            With their backs to the shore, they didn't notice Anne and Dick waiting for them on the beach until they were within earshot. Upon landing, there were hugs from Anne and in Gina's case from Dick too. The four of them then dragged the boats back up the beach and safely into the storage shed, chattering all the while.

            'So I've helped Aunt Fanny prepare a packed lunch for us all,' Anne said, 'but of course, you can take yours with you for the journey back to London, Gina.'

            'I'm not going to go back to London just yet,' Gina said, 'Terry's been on at me to take a break for a while now. I may as well hang around Kirrin for a few days.'

            Anne squealed and threw her arms around her cousin. 'You're staying, you're really staying? And you too,' she looked at both her brothers, her face aglow with hope.

            'Of course we are,' Dick answered.

            'Let's go back to the cottage and tell Aunt Fanny, she'll be thrilled.'

            With something that looked like it may one day resemble the camaraderie of their teenage years, the four of them headed off up the beach.

 

55555

A short distance away, a man dressed as a sailor sat repairing his nets. Under the rim of a hat that concealed most of his face, he watched the group recede into the distance before dropping the net, climbing off the boat and heading through the dunes that lead to the Common.  

 

 

Footnotes

1 - Five on Finniston Farm

2 - Five Go to Billycock Hill

3 - Five Go to Mystery Moor

4 - Five Go Off to Camp

5 - Five Go Off in a Caravan

6 - Five Go to Smuggler's Top


	15. Chapter 15 Our Primary Objective

Chapter 15 Our Primary Objective

The voices were too quiet to hear the words, but Quentin could identify two voices: one male one female. He only ever saw the man though, when he brought him his food. To his surprise he also brought him books to read.

            'We don't want that brilliant mind of yours going to seed now, do we?' his captor had remarked.

            'I'll tell you nothing,' Quentin had stated.

            'Not a problem, it's for who we sell you to, to get what they want out of you.'

            'So this is what this is about? You're hoping to sell me to the highest bidder? I'm a rich man, you could save yourself a lot of effort and ransom me.'

            The man laughed a chilling humourless laugh. 'The money will certainly be a bonus, but selling you is not our primary objective. No, it's your daughter, your niece and your nephews that we are interested in. You, my good fellow are merely bait!'

            Quentin shivered. 'Why, what have they ever done to you?'

            'Really, did you spend their entire adolescence with your head stuck in your experiments? You can hardly fail to have noticed that they put away more than their fair share of criminals over the years. Does it come as such a surprise that there are people who may have got out of prison and hold it against them.'

            'Do you really think that you'll get away with this? You'll be back in prison before you know what's hit you. The police will look to you ruffians as suspects first.'

            'Of course they will, but I was not on the receiving end of their adventures. My issue with them is of a more personal nature, so sorry to disappoint, but the local bobby will not be knocking on my door.'

 


	16. Chapter 16 The Twenty-second

Chapter 16 The Twenty-Second

 

Anne had been right, Aunt Fanny was delighted to have her daughter and Julian home safely and doubly so when she heard that Gina was planning to stay for a few days. Ascertaining that they were going out to retrace her husband's footsteps, she sent them both upstairs to freshen up and change.

            'You use the bathroom first,' he told Gina. Retreating to his room, he kicked off his shoes, unbuttoned his shirt and flopped down on the bed. Over and over he replayed: 'Dance with me.' The way she had uttered those three words had sent him into a spin. From the tone that she had used, he could easily imagine that it might have been: Make love to me. Would he have done? he wondered. This morning, things had felt a little awkward, if they _had_ made love, would it have made it worse? Probably, he thought. We sorted a lot of things out last night but telling her that I'm in love with her would have been too much, and he would not do the former without also doing the latter.

He was not convinced that he had managed to hide it from her though. He had an idea that she had given the evening’s events some thought. She had asked about Lake Merran, the first of many times that he had come whilst picturing her. No woman had ever looked into his eyes as he had come, he always closed them, so that at that moment it was Gina's face that he saw. The thing that was destroying his hope was, that if Gina had worked it out and she felt the same, why had she not given him something tangible to act upon. This morning she had gone out of her way to behave only as a friend and cousin would.

            Julian cursed his inexperience with women, a couple of fleeting encounters, and Annabella. Looking back, he wondered how he had ever contemplated marrying Annabella. Aunt Fanny's assessment of her being sly had been most astute, and he had, at times during their relationship, felt like she was pulling his strings.

Back then, he and Dick had shared a flat, he had arrived home one evening to the sound of a woman having an orgasm. Recognising the moans as belonging the Annabella, he had burst into Dick's room. Julian's first feeling was of relief, he could legitimately break off his sham of an engagement. Julian only felt the sting of his brother's betrayal as he realised that as far as Dick was concerned, he really loved Annabella. Annabella had left without a word whilst Dick unabashed had covered himself with a sheet.

            'You're home early,' Dick had said.

            'No I'm not actually.'

            'Oh, right, must have lost track of the time.'

            'Pack a bag and get out. If I see you again, I'll kill you.'

            'Fair enough, but I reckon I did you a favour there old boy. Man in your position can’t afford a wife who gives it away so readily,’

 

55555

 

The four of them headed back down to the beach first, and into the Harbour Cafe. Beryl was pleased to see them, especially Gina, who she had known since she had been a baby.

            'You're all lookin' so grown up now. I'd hardly be recognising you. Bad business about your father though. Have you heard anythin from the police yet?'

            'No,' answered Gina, casting a quick glance at her cousins. They had discussed it on their way here and decided to keep the information that they divulged to an absolute minimum. 'We are still hoping that he met one of his scientist friends and wandered off with them to look at some research.' She gave a little laugh 'you know my father, he could loose track of the time for days on end when he was working on one of his experiments.'

            'Goodness me, yes. Woo betide anyone who disturbed him when he was in the middle of one of those. Still, he's a clever man and you have to forgive clever men their funny ways. He's helped put Kirrin on the map which helped the local businesses, me included, that's for sure. Course you lot helped there too with your adventures endin up in the papers.'

            Julian spoke up. 'We wanted to ask you about that actually. Dick mentioned that you had a visitor asking about us.'

            'That I did, nice lady. Said she was stayin up at Kirrin Farm for a few days with her husband. Never saw him though, she said he'd been poorly and was under doctor’s orders to take it easy and get some fresh air. You should head up to the farm. Mr. and Mrs Sanders (1) are still runnin the place and would love to see you all again.'

            'We were planning on going over there this afternoon actually.'

55555

 

Anne was determined to keep them all talking, so the walk to the farm was remarkably jolly. They joined the rough road that threaded its way passed the disused bunk house, through the wild common, and up the hill to the white stone farmhouse. Passing through the gate, they headed up to the open door, through which Mrs Sanders could be seen working in the kitchen. Looking up, she spotted them and came over to greet them.

            'Oh, I can't remember the last time I saw you all. Come in, I've some ginger cake, just baked. You'll all have a piece.'

            The five of them settled around the sturdy kitchen to drink hot tea, and eat slabs of soft, fragrant cake drowned in fresh cream.

            'This is a super cake, Mrs Sanders. I do declare that I intend to give up my life in London and move in with you!' Dick said around a mouthful.

            Everyone laughed, including Julian, who was having difficulty reconciling the Dick that betrayed him with this Dick, who, seemed to be the brother that he had always known and loved.

            'Do you still have that wardrobe with the false back that leads to the tunnel?' asked Anne.

            'That we do, but you'll remember that your uncle had the tunnel sealed up at both ends. He didn't want people popping up in his study now did he?'

            'I say Mrs Sanders, do you think we could pop up and take a look, just for old times sake?' asked Dick, who had always maintained that he would be excited to find trap doors when he was a hundred (1).

            'I'd say yes Master Dick, but I've a guest staying in the room at the moment.'

            'A woman and her sick husband?' Gina asked in excitement.

            'Goodness me, how do you know about them? No, they moved on about a month ago. They were a funny pair, she was out and about all the time and he stayed in the room, face all wrapped up in scarves, so he'd not catch a chill his wife said. No, this is a man on his own, he's a funny sort too, lives on sandwiches, still at least he's out all day so I can get in to clean the room.'

            'Not my fault that you make such exceptional sandwiches, Mrs S,' came a voice from the kitchen door.

            Dick, who was sat facing it, reacted first. 'Guy?'

Before 'Guy' could answer, however, Anne, who had gone very pale, said.

            'No, it's Harry.'

            Gina and Dick rushed over to greet their old friend, but Anne sat quietly, nibbling on her finger nails. Julian too held back, aware that he was probably not one of either of the Lawdler twins favourite people.

Harry walked over to Anne. 'You can tell Guy and I apart as easily as that?’

            Anne nodded. 'To me you don't look any more alike than regular brothers.'

            'Interesting. Our mother can tell us apart as easily as you just did, but no one else can. She always told us that our soul mates would see us for who we are, not who we look like. Considering you left him and married another man, I'm not sure if Guy would appreciate that person being you.'

 

 

Footnotes

1- Five Go Adventuring Again


	17. Chapter 17 Finding Harry

Chapter 17 Finding Harry

Anne got to her feet and went outside. Gina knew that in Anne's position, she would not have managed to have done so with her cousin's dignity. The soft sob that carried through the doorway, the only clue to how upset Anne had been by Harry's words. Julian fixed Harry with an icy stare.

'Do you have a sister, Harry?' he asked.

'Err, yes we do, a younger sister.'

'Do yourself a favour. When she comes home and she tells you that she's in love if there is somebody who you think would be a better match for her, keep your mouth shut. I interfered, and because of Anne's belief that I knew what was best for her, she followed my advice and broke it off with your brother. Believe me, for as long as I live I’ll regret doing that, but I'm warning you now: don't upset my sister again.' With that Julian stormed out.

55555

Mrs Sanders had discreetly left them to it, so Harry was now alone with Gina and Dick.

'Am I missing something here? She broke up with Guy, not the other way around, he was heartbroken, still is I'd imagine.'

'Take a seat old boy,' Dick said. 'You'll have to forgive Julian but both he and I are especially protective towards our sister at the moment.' Dick looked to Gina for support. She shrugged.

'People are going to have to find out sooner or later,' she said.

'Anne and Jeremy's marriage has been annulled,' Dick said.

'What? It's only been a couple of months.'

'A couple of months too long. Julian and I have just found out that he abused Anne very badly.'

'Oh god, I'm so sorry. I'd have never said that to her if I'd have known. You have to understand that Guy was wrecked when she told him she was marrying Thacker. He's my twin and we can feel each others emotions. It made me feel sick watching him suffer the way he did.'

'Harry, I'm sorry too,' Anne had returned without Julian and was standing in the doorway, her face tear stained. 'I loved Guy so much, I just believed that it was my duty to marry into an aristocratic family when the opportunity presented itself. If I could undo it, I would, in a heartbeat.' Anne nibbled on her lip and Harry, weighing her words, gave a nod.

                                                                   55555

                                                                       

Leaving Anne and Dick with Harry to resolve their differences, Gina slipped outside. She found Julian in the barn, pulling bits of straw out of a bale. Taking him by surprise, she slid her hand into his free one.

'It's okay,' she said, giving his hand a squeeze. 'Anne and Harry are talking it through now.'

'It's far from okay, just how many people's lives have I ruined? Yours, Anne's, Guy's, the list just keeps growing.'

'Julian, Anne is twenty-four years old. What happened to her was awful, but she has got people who love her and she will get over this. It's you I'm worried about, you need to be able to forgive yourself. You aren't that person anymore.'

'Am I not?'

'Of course you aren't,'

'Then why do I feel the same, why do I feel like I'll never be worthy of anyone's love ever again. You know it's all making sense now - you, Anne, Dick, even Uncle Quentin. Everybody I love, I hurt.'

'Stop it! Just stop it! Of all those things, you were only responsible for keeping the situation with Timmy from me, and I understand why you acted the way you did. I've told you I forgive you for it.' She picked up his other hand which had ceased its shredding, and pulled him towards her. 'I love you, Julian Kirrin. I don't ever want you not to be a part of my life again. Do you understand?' Julian nodded, and the look in his eyes almost caused Gina to lean in and kiss him. Her declaration had been made, safe in the knowledge that she could attribute it to love of the platonic variety. Much though it pained her, she was not in a position to offer anything more to him. 'Come on, let's go back inside. We need to build some bridges with the Lawdlers, they could still end up as our in-laws one day.

55555

The three of them looked up when Gina and Julian re-entered the kitchen. Harry and Julian exchanged nods. That was a relationship that was going to take some work. They needed to get hold of Guy and explain everything to him. Gina could imagine all being forgiven and forgotten once Anne had Guy's ring on her finger where it belonged.

'So where is Guy?' she asked.

'That's why I'm here,’ answered Harry. 'Guy's missing. He turned up at my flat on Anne's wedding day sickeningly drunk and looking like he had not been taking care of himself in the slightest. He stayed a few days and then insisted that he was leaving. He said he was going to stay with Veronica, our sister, but when I called her, there was no answer. I kept ringing and ringing, and in the end I got worried and went around. There was no sign of her or Guy, and her neighbours hadn't seen her for days. She must have gone away.

'Whilst he was staying with me, Guy talked about you, Anne, all the time. I got this crazy idea that he might have come here to Kirrin. He wouldn't have known you were here of course, but he knew how much you loved it here. I thought he might see it as a way of being close to you. Besides we have the twin thing, I've learnt to trust my intuition with Guy over the years.

'I've been here a few days, and have asked around to see if anyone has seen anyone who looked just like me, but I've drawn a blank. If he is here, he's keeping a very low profile.'

'Well, we will be travelling around the town and surrounding countryside over the next few days,' Dick said. 'We can keep an eye out for him too.'

'Yes, well, I just hope we find him soon. Not knowing where he is, what he's doing or whether he's okay puts me on edge,' Harry reached out his hand and gave Anne's a squeeze. 'Don't worry, I'll find him, clean him up and make sure he has a shave. He really did look ghastly when he turned up on my doorstep, I doubt you'd recognise him,' he laughed, 'Well maybe you would, Anne. As soon as he's presentable, I'll send him straight to you.'

55555

Their walk back to Kirrin Cottage was a more somber affair than the journey to the farm had been. Anne seemed to be determined that Julian not blame himself for the situation with her and Guy.

'You had no idea how much I loved Guy, how could you have done? You were right, Jeremy was quite the catch. I, on the other hand, _did_ know how much I loved Guy. No Julian, I won't have you try and take responsibility for this. Ultimately the choice was mine to make and I made the wrong one. I just hope that all of you, learn from my mistake. When you find the one you love, don't let anything stop you from being together.'

All three of them became interested in their boots. Jogging a few steps, Gina caught up to Dick. Keeping her voice low so that the others didn't hear,

'I need to talk to you,' she said.

'Shoot,' he linked his arm through hers.

'Not now, will you meet me in Father's study at midnight?'

'Doing anything at midnight always makes it seem exciting. Is it?'

Gina shrugged and changed the subject 'Terry asked after you.'

'Oh, do tell him hello back.'

 


	18. Chapter 18 Games and Toys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dialogue in italics denotes a Gin Rummy game.

Chapter 18 Games and Toys

 

'How is the room coming along?'

            'Should be finished by the end of the week.'

            'And it will be sound-proof and airtight. _Arrrr, I've been waiting for that, I was starting to think that you were never going to throw me a card'?_ '

            'Of course. _You're knocking then?_ What about the crates?'

            'All in hand, the ship will dock next week and Edgar will bring the crates here. The ship is in port for five days so we'll have plenty of time to get them packed up and ready for shipping, _and no I am not knocking_ '

            ' _You're hanging back for the Big Gin I suppose?_ We have never discussed who gets who.'

            _'Now that would be telling._ You can pick first if you like?'

            'You're too kind. Naturally, I'll choose Anne. Your turn.'

            'I'll take the other girl.'

            'I'll take Julian, making a pair of blonds.'

            'You're making pairs? we're playing Rummy, not Poker. So that leaves Dick to me. Perfect, I wanted him anyway.'

            'Don't get too attached. We'll only get to play with our toys for a few days before they have to be packed away into their boxes.'

            'What about Edgar? Kill or keep?'

            'Thick thugs are always useful. We'll pay him well and ensure that we have enough on him to make sure he keeps his mouth shut. _And that's Gin. So that will be another twenty-five to me plus your deadwood.'_


	19. Chapter 19 Working it out?

Chapter 19 Working it out?

Over dinner, they informed her mother of what they had discovered. She had tried to be positive, but Gina thought that she was disappointed by their lack of progress. She thought that they had made _some_ progress, but she wasn't in a position to say anything out loud in present company.

            Today had been the first day that Anne had not had her afternoon nap, so unsurprisingly, she had started to yawn before they had even finished dinner.

            'I'm really sorry,' she said, declining the cheese and biscuits, but I'm going to have to go to bed.'

            Aunt Fanny also excused herself which left the three of them sat at the table amidst port fumes and an odd tension that Gina couldn't define. They sat quietly, listening until the cessation of the creaking stairs told them that Aunt Fanny and Anne were upstairs and out of earshot. Then they exploded in an excited chatter of noise, all speaking at the same time.

            'Mrs Sanders said they had left a month ago.'

            'Guy's been missing since just after the wedding, his sister is too.'

            'Harry seems pretty certain Guy's in the area, but why has nobody seen him?'

            They fell silent and then Dick spoke. 'Let's just be clear here. We are all thinking the same thing aren't we? That the couple staying at the farmhouse were Guy Lawdler and his sister?'

            'Has to be,' said Julian. The dates all fit. And the day that Uncle Quentin visited Kirrin Farm, they must have still been there.'

            'Okay,' said Gina, and taking a deep breath she said, 'so the question is: what were they doing there and why did a brother and sister pretend to be a married couple? Do we think it's possible that the man Anne loves, and his sister had something to do with the kidnapping of my father?'

            'Anything is possible I suppose,' said Dick, 'but what motive would they have had for doing it?'

            'If we run with this, I think we should assume that Anne was their target and that Uncle Quentin stumbling into them like that forced them to rethink their plans,' Julian paused. 'Don't forget that Guy will blame me for all this as much, if not more so, than he does Anne.'

            'Look, logistically, there is a lot of this theory that makes sense. Everyone was in the right place at the right time, but just think for a moment. If it is Guy, then my father was not their target. You and Anne were Julian. My father may just be the bait to get you here,'

            Both Julian and Dick nodded, seeing the logic of her argument.

            'This is a turn up for the worse,' Dick said. 'Research and information can be bought and traded, but this would be a personal grudge, which makes it a lot more dangerous. But are we really giving this idea credence? Guy? Guy Lawdler? If it really is him then he must have lost his mind. Bloody hell, Anne can't half pick them! This will devastate her when she finds out.'

            They lapsed into silence again, the ticking of the clock sounding unnaturally loud as Gina's mind whirled at the possibility. She risked a glance at Julian. As unfeasible as it might appear at first glance, Gina could easily imagine that watching the person you loved, getting married somebody else, was enough to drive a person to extreme actions.

            'Let's not do anything rash,’ she said. ‘Let's just keep this possibility in the back of our minds and carry on as we planned. We need to take extra care when we are out, especially you Julian and Anne. We mustn't let Anne suspect anything though.

            'Now, I'm going to grab a drink and go to bed. Dick, you won't forget that thing that I asked you about earlier will you?

            'Of course not, I'm going to head up too,'  he said, giving her a wink and following her to the door.

            'Goodnight.'

55555

                                           

Julian sat alone, the Guy theory looping round and around in his head. Gina was right, they must not voice their suspicion to Anne until they had something more than circumstantial evidence. It had been an odd feeling: sitting there with the two of them, discussing plots just like the old days. He didn't know whether it was because this time their prime suspect was somebody who had once been a friend, but there had not been anything fun about it. Julian wished the day could have gone differently, but then he mused, Gina may not have told him that she loved him. She had not said it in a way that made him believe that it was romantic, but if two days ago, somebody had told him that she would tell him that, regardless of the context, he would have taken it. He heard an individual's tread on the stairs and reasoned that it was Dick, Gina must still be fixing herself a drink. Overwhelmed by the urge to see her, he headed for the kitchen.

            Gina had her back to him as he stood in the doorway, his greedy eyes taking the opportunity to secretly devour her. She turned, and seeing him she jumped, sloshing hot liquid from the cup she held in each hand as she did so. She didn't drop them though and managed to put them safely down on the work top. With a curse, he was by her side. Turning on the tap, he took hold of her hands in his and plunged them under the stream of cold water.

            'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, I thought you had already gone up,' he lied.

            'It's okay and my hands are fine. They aren’t all that hot, I used a lot of cold milk: so we could drink them straight away, look.' She indicated to the cups, from which only minute wisps of malt scented steam was being emitted.

            'You made one for me?' Was it his imagination, or did she blush?

            'Erm, yes. I was distracted and did it without thinking. I'm sorry, you don't have to drink it.'

            Her hands still held in his, they turned, both watched the water from their wet hands drip onto the floor. They raised their heads at the same time and their eyes met, both were breathing audibly.

            'Julian?'

            One single word, his name, was all it took. Hauling her against him, he claimed her lips with his own. She moaned into his mouth and Julian ate the sound, the vibrations of it reaching down to his toes. Gina had removed her hands from his and was running them down the back of his body. Finding the bottom of his shirt, she slipped them inside. Moving them up now to the oblique muscles of his back, she clung on to him, hard. As if she needed the support to stop herself from falling. He could feel the softness of her against the hardness of his erection. She did not seem to be put off by it being pressed against her, quite the contrary. She pressed herself closer, the action causing them to grind together, their moans of arousal combining in their continuing kiss. Breaking apart, Julian looked at her flushed face, aware from the warmth of his own that his probably looked the same. Cupping her face in his hands intending to resume their kiss, he saw the moment that her brain caught up with what her body was doing. She took two steps back and away from him, her eyes wide like those of an animal caught in the headlamps of a motorcar.

            'Julian, I'm, I'm really sorry,' she stuttered over the words as if her mouth was struggling to make the adjustment from kissing to speaking. 'Please, it's not you, I just can't do this. I'm so sorry.'

            Before Julian could respond, she had turned and sped from the room.

 


	20. Chapter 20 Anything at midnight is exciting

Chapter 20 Anything at midnight is exciting

 

If Gina had harboured any doubts about her feelings for Julian, or his for her, then the kiss blew them all away. She could not remember feeling so complete and yet at the same time, so aching to be filled. She had grasped the firm muscles on his back as if she could press against him so thoroughly that she might pass within him and feel him touch every part of her at once. It was only when the kiss ended and she was capable of rational thought again that she remembered why she could not let this happen. At some point, Julian would find out the truth, and as just a cousin, there was, she thought, at least a slight chance of convincing him that her motives had been noble. Having fled the kitchen, she climbed into bed fully clothed, safe in the knowledge that there was no chance of her falling asleep and missing her rendezvous with Dick.

 

55555

           

Despite the length of time that had passed since Gina had last had to sneak down the stairs at Kirrin Cottage, she remembered where all the creaky treads were. With her dancer's grace, she picked her way down to the hallway without a sound. Her efforts were nullified by Dick, who bounded down like an excited puppy.

            'It's a good job that Anne's a heavy sleeper and that Mother and Julian are at the other side of the house,' she hissed.

            Chastened, Dick at least made an effort to follow her lead and tip-toe his way through to the older part of the house where the study was located.

            'I need a drink, does your father keep any of the good stuff in here?' Dick asked, rummaging in a cupboard.

            'Try that one,' she pointed to a cabinet in the corner.

            'Oh, this really is the good stuff,' Dick said, showing her the bottle. 'Would your father be terribly angry if we opened it?'

            'I doubt he'd notice, he barely drinks. I once saw him using twenty-five-year-old single malt as a steriliser. Pour me one too would you?'

            Dick brought the drinks over and flopped down next to Gina on the sofa. 'What a day!'

            'You can say that again,' said Gina, tossing back her drink.

            'I've been dying to talk to you all day actually. What happened with you and Julian on the island? Come on, tell your Uncle Dick all about it.'

            Gina sighed and leant back against the cushions, 'He told me about what really happened with Timmy.' Dick raised an eyebrow but did not interrupt. 'He had cancer. Julian was trying to get him better with some trial drug. It didn't come to anything, but it left Timmy too weak to have surgery after he was run over by that car.'

            'I'm sorry?' Dick looked confused, 'But it looked to me today that you and Julian had settled your differences. I'd have thought that finding out that he'd been hiding something like that from you would if anything have made everything worse.'

            'I know it should have done but it didn't. I could understand what Julian had been going through and has been going through ever since. Granted, I was angry at what he'd done, but somehow what Julian the boy had done seemed so far removed from Julian the man that I just couldn't hate him anymore,' she paused looking, down at her empty glass. 'Far from it.'

            'Oh?'

            Gina looked at Dick and burst into tears. 'Oh Dick, you're not going to believe this but I realised that we love each other.' To her surprise Dick snorted with laughter.

            'I hope that you mean you realised that he was crazy about you, and you're not going to try and tell me that you didn't know that _you_ have been carrying a torch for him for years.'

            The shock of Dick's statement did at least stop her crying. 'You mean that you knew?'

            'Of course I knew you daft girl, come here.' Dick swept her into a bear hug. 'I'm not sure who's more blind: you or my fat head of a brother, although if forced to choose I'll go with him. After all, he had already been in love with you for a few years before you noticed him in that way. The way you acted around him changed from that second, and considering how he struggled to keep his eyes off you, I can't believe that he didn't spot it.'

            'My god, you even know when it started?'

            Dick nodded smugly. 'Off the bus, the summer at Finniston Farm. I hugged you straight afterwards, remember? You were still shaking.'

            'How do you know all this?' Gina asked, dabbing her eyes on the handkerchief that Dick handed her.

            'Dick shrugged, 'As far as Julian is concerned, until he went to university, there weren't many nights that he and I didn't share a room.' He chuckled, 'during the night, well let's just say that it wasn't his upper lip that was stiff. He'd moan your name too, which was really funny because there was a George in his form. I spent the best part of a term thinking Julian was a fruit! Ironic don't you think? Anyway, the next holiday was Easter, you know the one where your father built the tower on Kirrin Island. (1) As soon as we saw you, I realised that you were the "Oh George!" of his dreams.'

            'And as for you, you're blushing, by the way, I'm good at reading people. Probably why I'm such a good reporter, which bring us to the other reason why you wanted this midnight chat. You want to tell him don't you?'

            Gina nodded. 'Even if he hates me for it. I have to risk it, he and I can't be anything other than cousins unless I tell him how I sabotaged his engagement.'

            'Haven't you worked it out, Gina?' Dick asked, giving her forehead a quick kiss. 'He didn't love Annabelle, how could he when it has always been you? Yes, he was angry with me for betraying him, but he'd have been glad to have found a way out of marrying her. I'd been hoping that he'd end it, not just because I knew that he didn't love her, but because I had a very bad feeling about her, which you only confirmed. I'll admit that if there had been more time I would have preferred to have gone about it differently, not least because having to seduce and bed that woman was ghastly! At least Julian interrupted us before I had to do the deed with her. I'm not sure I could have managed it.'

            'But what if-' Gina gave a shriek. 'There's someone out there, at the window.' She raced over to the window and wrenched it open in time to see a figure retreating through the garden gate. 'I'm going after them!'

            'I'll come with you.'

            'Only if you can keep up,' she called back to him, already halfway down the hall.

 

55555

Gina had to sprint to keep the figure in view. Luckily, whoever it was did not seem to know that they were being followed so took no precautions to avoid it. They ran across the fields and on to the common where she registered that they were heading towards Kirrin Farm. Rounding one of the path's corners, Gina saw that the spy was no longer in front of her. Where had he gone? Taking stock of her location, she realised that a few yards ahead was where the rough road forked. One way continued up the hill to Kirrin Farm, the other: through the gorse bushes, led to the bunk house where the seasonal farm workers used to live during harvest time. It had been hit with a rogue bomb during the war and had never been repaired. Gina recalled playing there as a child and knew that a few of the cellar rooms had survived intact.

            'Oh god!' she said aloud. That might be where they are holding Father. Cautiously now she jogged up the path, grateful that there was no moonlight to give her away. Her quarry had reached the door and was stood waiting to be admitted. Gina crouched behind the bushes, watching. As the door opened a slice of light illuminated the man's face and she had to cover her mouth so as not to give herself away. 'Edgar Stick!'(2) Gina was so taken aback that she almost forgot to look at the woman who was now stepping back into the hut to allow Edgar inside. Gina had no idea what Veronica Lawdler looked like, but with her heart beating so loudly that she was surprised they didn't hear her, Gina knew that the woman who Edgar was meeting was not she.

 

Gina did not go home. With her heart and her brain racing, she headed down to the jetty. She sat and looked out to sea until the sky started to lighten with the pre-dawn glow. It made a certain sort of sense Edgar Stick being involved, she thought. His family even had the experience when it came to kidnapping although abducting a grown man must have been more of a challenge than Jennifer Armstrong (2) had been. It was the woman's involvement that Gina was having difficulty in fathoming. Unless… Gina jumped to her feet and sped home.

                 

Footnotes

1 - Five On Kirrin Island Again

2 - Five Run Away Together

           


	21. Chapter 21 Sticks and Stones

Chapter 21 Sticks and Stones

 

When Julian had awoken, his first thought had been of the kiss. His second of how Gina and he would behave around each other. Would she pretend that it had never happened? Her response had been so genuine, and there was no doubt in his mind that she had been as effected by it as he had been. Why then had she reacted the way that she did? Was she ashamed? Whilst they were cousins, marriage between cousins within their social class was almost the norm. In fact, Gina's own mother and father had been second cousins. (1)

            Even though it was still early, he had got up and after washing and dressing, had headed downstairs to the morning room. The sun would be rising soon and in light of his restless night, Julian decided some meditation would help him to relax.

            He had recently traveled to India to meet with an agent, and whilst there had been introduced to Sandhyavandane, a ritual that formed the basis for yoga and meditation. Whilst Julian did not see it as a path to enlightenment, he had been filled with respect for the dedication of the Brahmins. He had adapted his morning routine to include meditation, in the hope of achieving a few moments of calm at the beginning of the day.

            Dick was already up and, pacing the floor of the morning room. Julian was about to make his excuses and find another room when he noticed Dick's face twisted in anxiety. Unable to prevent himself from caring, he asked,

            'What's the matter?'

            'It's Gina, she's missing.'

            'Missing how, why would you assume that she is anywhere other than in her bed?' Julian asked his voice tight with barely concealed dread.

            'Because she and I were in Uncle Quentin's study. We'd arranged to meet there last night; you remember she reminded me about "that thing." We were talking, and then there was a face at the window, and Gina took off after them before I could stop her. I ran after her but she was already too far ahead and I couldn't tell which way she had gone. I've sat up and waited for her all night and she hasn't come home.'

            'You let her run off after god knows who? After everything we talked about after dinner, you just let her go. Just what were you thinking? If anything has happened to her, I swear I'll-.'

            'You'll what, kill me? You need to get yourself some new threats, Julian because that's old. Come on, you know what Gina's like. Since when has she ever not done something that she wanted to do? You really ought to have learnt that by now. She'll always defy you; she'll always behave how she thinks is right as opposed to how others think she should. If you can't accept that, then you've no business being in love with her.' Dick stopped, looking horrified with himself for what he had just let slip.

            'Did she tell you that?'

            'She didn't need to, I've known for years, since we were at school.'

            The bang of the front door interrupted them. They looked at each other before dashing into the hallway, where Gina stood leaning against the front door, eyes closed, breathing heavily.

            'What on earth's going on? What's all the noise about?' asked Anne, who must have been disturbed by the ruckus that he and Dick had been making, and had come downstairs to investigate.'

            Not caring who saw, or what they thought, Gina herself included, Julian was at the front door in three long strides, enveloping her in his embrace. He breathed in the scent of her hair - sea salt.

            'Please don't tell me you have been over to Kirrin Island alone? I've only just come downstairs and found out you were missing, but poor Dick has been frantic with worry for hours.'

            'No, I haven't been to the island. I'm really sorry Dick, it's just that, I'm just, well I just don't know what to make of it all. Can I sit down?'

            Julian swept her through into the morning room and the others followed.

            'So did you manage to follow him? Where did he go?' asked Dick.

            'Just a minute, why do I feel like I've missed the first half of a play?' Anne said.

            Dick filled Anne in on the events leading up to Gina's nighttime dash, whilst Julian got them all a cup of tea. Gina sat twirling a strand of her hair tighter and tighter around her finger. Meeting Julian's eyes, she said to him in almost a whisper,

            'I'm so very, very sorry,' she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, she addressed Dick.

            'Dick, after Julian had walked in on you, did you ever see Annabella again?'

            'What?' asked Dick and Julian in unison? Whatever Julian might have expected her to say, it had not been that.

            'Please, it's important.'

            Dick gave an embarrassed cough. 'Well yes, once. It's not what you're thinking old boy,' he said to Julian. 'She came see me at the office. Naturally she assumed that my interest in her had been genuine and that I'd want to continue seeing her.'

            Julian's heart sank. As he had told Aunt Fanny, if Dick had loved Annabella he would have been happy to give her up to his brother. Dick really had only slept with her to score one over on him. Still reeling from this confirmation, Julian had a difficult time absorbing what Gina said next.

            'Dick, I need to know, did you tell her why you had done it? Did you tell her about my part in it?'

            'Dammit Gina, the harpy wouldn't leave me alone. Obviously, she would never have given up a Kirrin unless she thought that she had another one to take over. She wouldn't accept that I didn't want her, even when I told her that I was a homosexual,' Anne gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. 'she wouldn't have it. Told me that many homosexuals had wives and she would, how did she put it now? Oh yes, that was it, "allow me to pursue my own interests"!'

            'So then you told her?'

            'Yes, I told her that you had been to see me and had told me all about her, and that you and I had resolved to break her and Julian up at any cost.'

            Gina buried her head in her hands and gave a sigh. 'That's it then, she has motive.'

            'Motive? Motive for what?' asked Dick.

            'The man at the window last night; I followed him back to Kirrin Farm's old bunk house. It was Edgar Stick! And the woman who let him in was Annabella Stone.' _They_ must be the couple from the farm; Mrs Sanders would have recognised Edgar, which is why he kept his face covered. _They_ must be the ones who have Father.'

            'Oh, thank goodness for that,' said Anne. Three pairs of eyes looked at her questioningly. 'Well,' she said, 'I didn't want to say anything yesterday but it did look awfully like it might have been Guy, didn't it?

            They all laughed a tense humourless laugh that did nothing to dispel the tension that Julian was feeling.

            'Excuse me,' he said and slipped out of the room and out into the back garden.

 

55555

 

Gina watched him leave, her heart heavy in her chest. Dick came and sat beside her, giving her leg a reassuring pat.

            'He just needs to get his head around the idea, he'll be fine. As I told you, he never loved her. At least now he knows the truth.'

            Gina nodded and then gave a shout of alarm. 'No he doesn't, we didn't actually tell him why.'

            Dick gave her a little shove. 'Go and find him.'

 

55555

 

'I'm not sure that I want to talk to you just now, please leave me.' Julian said when Gina tracked him down to the bench by the potting shed.

            'I know, but in there neither Dick or I explained why we needed to get Annabella away from you, and you need to know Julian, even if you hate me afterwards, it's important that you know.

            'I'm listening.'

            'Did she ever mention that she and I had been friends?'

            'No, but Aunt Fanny told me yesterday that she had stayed here.'

            Gina nodded. 'Yes, I was at the beach one day and she befriended me, said that she was staying in town with her father. She wasn't as exciting to be around as you all were, but you weren't here and I was lonely. When she went home, we wrote to each other and I invited her to come and stay with me over the holidays. After a couple of days, I realised that I didn't like her all that much and neither did Timmy. The funny thing was though, was that Father adored her. She was always asking him about his work, and he was always inviting her to his study to watch him perform his experiments. I mean, he hardly let Mother in there, and there _she_ was handing father his conical flasks and gazing up at him all reverently.'

            'Are you saying that she flirted with your father?' Julian asked.

            'Well, she did it's true, but that wasn't the real issue. She had told me that her father was abroad, but then I saw her meet with him and she passed something to him. She never mentioned seeing him, which I found suspicious, so I kept a close eye on her. Then one night I saw her photographing papers in Father's study. I challenged her and she ran away. A couple of months later, some research that Father had been working on at that time found its way into enemy hands. He was livid and could not understand how it had happened. I was too ashamed to tell him that somebody that I had brought into the house had stolen from him and sold his work. Julian, Annabella and her father were spies, and you work for the Ministry of Defence, not to mention that she would potentially have access to Father's work again once she was your wife.'

            'And you told all this to Dick?'

            'Yes, and he agreed that you had to be separated from her. Julian please believe me, Dick never set out to hurt you.'

            Julian's mind was racing; no Dick had not set out to hurt him, had he? Recalling what Dick had said earlier, the truth of the matter hit Julian. Dick had known that he had been in love with Gina and never with Annabella. Dick never had betrayed him; rather he had looked out of him as a good brother would. He looked over at Gina, who was fidgeting with apprehension. She looked exhausted having been up all night and she had never looked more beautiful to him.

            'Last night when you ran from me. Was this why?'

            She nodded her eyes bright with tears that he could tell she was fighting to hold on to.

            'Is there anything else? Any more secrets?'

            'No, there's nothing, that was all. I'm so sorry.'

            'Sorry for getting a woman I knew was a mistake out of my life, when I didn't have the strength of character to do it for myself? I'm the one who should be sorry for putting you and Dick through all that. You should know though, that if you'd have knocked on my door and told me not to marry her, I wouldn't have done.' Julian reached over and took her hand. 'If I had ever dared to hope that you cared for me, I would never have considered it. I'm in love with you Georgina Kirrin, there has never been anyone else that I wanted, only you.'

            'Julian,' she choked through her tears, 'I'm in love with you too.'

            At that moment, Julian cared about nothing else. Not family, friends, spies of ex-fiancées or kidnappers. Gina was his.

 

           

 

Footnotes

1- It is a much-discussed Blyton gaff, that Kirrin Island belongs to Aunt Fanny, who had, it was stated in book 1, lived in Kirrin all her life. The town of Kirrin is centred on Aunt Fanny's ancestors. Fanny would have taken her husband, Quentin's surname upon marriage and yet she, Quentin and George are Kirrins. Unlikely though it is, Quentin could have taken Fanny's surname. We are told that Quentin is the brother of Julian, Dick and Anne's father, meaning that he would have the same surname as them. The children do introduce themselves collectively as the Kirrins. The only feasible explanation would be for Fanny and Quentin to have had the same surname prior to marriage. Considering theirs is not a common surname it would be logical to assume that Fanny and Quentin were related.


	22. Chapter 22 Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note
> 
> Thank-you to everyone reading. Could I just remind you that this story is rated M in the romance category? I’m sure that you have worked out that the pairing is Julian and Gina (George). If you have been reading despite not liking that, then you probably would prefer skipping Chapter 22. There is no development of the plot in this chapter. I believe that the terminology is that this chapter is purely limes.

Chapter 22 Reality

Julian stood up and pulled her to her feet.

            'Come with me,' he said, in a tone that Gina had never heard him use before. It was a tone that immediately ignited her desire for him and it never occurred to her not to comply. He led her inside the potting shed, and closing the door pinned her against it. He wasted no time in claiming her lips with his. Unlike the kiss of the night before, there was nothing gentle about this. It was a kiss that demanded and took what it wanted. It was a kiss that promised so much more.

Her moans filled the small space and sounded almost feral amongst the musty smell of the peat. Julian too was making sounds of longing, and feeling like a creature driven by pure instinct, she pressed her aching body against his.

            Julian stopped his assault on her mouth and trailed kisses up her jawbone, whispering her name in her ear before fixing warm lips and hard teeth around the lobe and nibbling. Gina purred and rubbed herself against him like a cat.

            'Oh god, Julian. What are you doing to me?'

            'Everything that I've ever fantasised about. I'd lie there in the dark, sometimes we were only separated by a couple of sheets of canvas, and I would touch myself, wondering how it would feel if it were your hand touching me, and how you would feel if I were touching you.'

            His words thrilled her to her core, and if it were possible, she throbbed for him even more intensely than before.

            'I'd touch myself too, Julian,' she said, feeling her face flushing at the admission.

            Julian's hands were by her breasts now and he swept both thumbs simultaneously across her engorged nipples. She cried out, wishing that the t-shirt and bra that she wore would just vanish so she could feel his touch directly on her sensitive flesh.

            'I've wondered for so long what your breasts would feel like.'

            With a growl, Gina tore off her t-shirt, and not needing any further encouragement, Julian plunged his hands into her bra. The sensation that she had experienced when Julian has touched her over her clothes was nothing compared to his hands on her bare skin. She almost sobbed as pure pleasure ripped through her. She had never considered the possibility that her nipples were linked directly to her womanhood, but she became wild with excitement and could not help grinding against Julian to try to get some relief. Julian was having none of it and whilst the top half of his body continued to wreak havoc with her senses, he moved the bottom out of her reach.

            Gina groaned in frustration, and looking into her eyes, Julian smiled.

            ‘I would rather not come in my pants, love,' he explained.

            'But you are happy to make me come in mine?' she asked, her voice revealing a trace of sulkiness.

            'Let's see shall we?' Before Gina could register his intent, Julian slid one hand down her leg until he reached the hem of her skirt. 'Thank goodness you wear skirts nowadays,' he said before passing his hand beneath the material and caressing the soft skin that covered the firm muscles of her thigh.

            Gina forgot to breathe as Julian’s hand reached her knickers. He slipped inside; covering her mouth with his to stifle the scream that his fingers, sliding between the wet folds of her labia, incited. Julian seemed to be having as hard a time keeping himself together as she was; his breathing rapid as they exchanged breath through their open mouths. Gina could not even concentrate on the kiss. The only thought that she had was of Julian's fingers. He had slid one up and inside her now, whilst his thumb applied a gentle pressure to the side of her clitoris, stimulating it as he rocked his hand back and forth. She gripped his shoulders, her legs shaking and struggling to hold her upright as every muscle clenched in time with the rhythm that he set for her. Gina could feel her orgasm building on foundations that went deeper than any she had experienced by her own hand. It rose up from her toes, expanding and filling every part of her with a vibrating force that grew and grew in intensity. Never easing up on the rhythm, Julian slipped a second finger inside her.

            'Fuck, you’re so tight,' he moaned. Whether it was the finger or the dirty words Gina did not know, but she came hard, her teeth biting into his shoulder through the cotton of his shirt. She had no control over her body as she rode her orgasm; shaking in Julian’s arms until it broke, leaving ripples of pleasure in its wake.

            In the aftermath, she stood whilst her muscles remembered how to relax. Her eyes met his and she blushed, feeling slightly embarrassed by the intensity of her climax. An embarrassment that was soon usurped by a fresh wave of desire as she realised that he was still rock hard with need for her. Tentatively, she reached out her hand to cup the bulge in his trousers.

            'Seriously, Gina it will get messy,' he said, but he did not try to stop her this time.

            'No, it won’t. I heard about something, from the girls at the club. Please Julian, let me try.'

            Giving him no time to protest, her deft fingers soon had the buttons of his trousers unfastened. Hooking her fingers under the waistband of his underwear, she inched both down until his penis sprang free. She had spent a significant portion of her life wishing that she’d had one, but Gina had never seen a penis up close before. She had seen pictures though and was sure that most were rather ugly and wrinkled. Julian's penis was magnificent: smooth, hard and proud nestled amongst neat, short hair that was similar in colour, if not texture, to the blond hair on his head.

            Gina ran her fingers through that coarse hair, tugging at it slightly, and was rewarded by moans of pleasure. Taking confidence from this, she kept her hand gentle and wrapped it around Julian's girth, before sliding it down to the tip. Julian thrust forward into her hand and Gina felt a thrill of power race through her. He was a lot longer and broader than she had imagined, but this only added to her excitement.

            She dropped to her knees before him, delighted by the sharp intake of breath that suggested she had surprised him. Still holding him in one hand, she ran her cheek along the silky smooth skin that encased the hard muscle within. She noticed a bead of fluid forming on the tip and instinctively licked it. He tasted of every erotic fantasy that she had ever had of him, and it was with a restraint she did not know she possessed that she did not tear her clothes off and impale herself on his beautiful cock. Feeling wanton by thinking words that she had never said aloud, she licked the shaft again, from root to tip this time swirling her tongue around until it glistened. Glancing up to gauge his reaction, she smiled, because Julian was having to grit his teeth to keep his moans at a discreet volume.

            'Gina, my god that feels wonderful.'                                          

            She looked up and flashed him a smile, before enveloping his entire length in her mouth. Julian gave up on discretion and cried out. His cock touched the back of her throat, but Gina found that she did not mind. With one hand, she gripped tightly to Julian's firm buttocks, whilst using the other in conjuncture with her mouth. She had been told that this helped to control how hard a man could thrust himself into a woman’s mouth. As it was her first time, she had expected to need to keep the thrusts shallow, but as Julian fucked her mouth, she found that she was urging him harder and deeper than he probably would have gone of his own volition.

            More of the sweet pre-ejaculate was forming and it ran down her throat, replicating her own juices that had soaked through her knickers and made her thighs slick. With a cry, Julian flung back his head and for a second went completely still. In her mouth, his penis began to pulse and pump out streams of hot semen. Each shot hit the back of her throat, and she had no hesitation in allowing it to slide down, savouring its salty tang. When there was no more and Julian was quiet, save for his ragged breathing, she withdrew her mouth and looked up at him again. He looked dishevelled and, she thought, shell-shocked.

            'That was like nothing else,' he said, refastening his trousers. 'You have just blown every fantasy that I ever had of you out of the water.'

            She grinned up at him feeling very pleased with herself, 'Same here.' 

            He reached for her, but pulling her t-shirt back over her head, she danced away laughing. 'Better not, we have been gone a while. Anne and Dick might think that we are killing each other.'

            Julian laughed, 'If that's your method, you can kill me as often as you like.' And entwining his fingers in hers, they headed inside.

 


	23. Chapter 23 Ready to proceed

Chapter 23 Ready to proceed

 

‘Good, you’re back. Edgar has just left, he brought the crates.’

            ‘Fabulous, can I see them? Oh, are those them? I was expecting something fancier.’

            ‘They are crates, state of the art climate controlled crates granted, but still crates. Besides, despite the bribes I’ve had to dish out; anything that looks out of the ordinary will be inspected.’

            ‘I suppose, I just thought that considering how much they cost, there would have been a bit more to them.’

            ‘Don’t worry about the money; I appropriated them through the business under the pretext of transporting some personal pieces. By the time the invoice reaches me, we will have completed the sale and money will not be an issue. Slavers will pay a fortune for upper-class white men and women?’

            ‘And how is everything else progressing?’

            ‘All finished, come on I’ll show you. You will need to know anyway in case I am indisposed. The lock is a combination from inside the room, but from the outside, it just opens with the handle. Once closed the room is airtight apart from a vent that can be opened and closed from outside and a small hole through which we will pipe the gas. That reminds me, here try this on.’

            ‘Yuck, it smells disgusting.’

            ‘Well, when we first open the door you’re going to need it, otherwise you’ll be joining them in cuckoo land.’

            ‘What about the rest of the equipment for the transportation?’

            ‘All ready.’

            ‘I do have to ask, how have you got all of this? Surely, this kind of thing is restricted to the medical profession? I know you have fingers in a lot of pies but how have you managed to get hold of IV drips, sedatives and catheters.’

            'It's not the type of thing that I would normally discuss with a woman, but you have proved yourself to be dependably sadistic. I have friends with mutual interests, for whom this type of equipment is easy to come by.'

            'What luck for me to have met you when I did. I despaired of ever getting even with the Kirrins.'

            'Likewise, I have family keeping an eye on my whereabouts. Without having been able to pose as Mr Stone, I'd have found travelling difficult.'

            'Are we ready for them then?'

            'Yes, let's instruct Edgar to telephone them and arrange a meeting. They never could resist an adventure.'

             

           

           

           

 

             

           

           

           


	24. Chapter 24

A/N - May 2015

I know I said that I would finish this Summer 2014 and I haven't done. My life just got a bit full. I haven't forgotten and I will get around to it.


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